posted on 2022-01-02, 17:13authored byFrancesca Giampieri, Jose Luis Quiles, Danila Cianciosi, Tamara Yuliett Forbes-Hernández, Francisco Josè Orantes-Bermejo, José Miguel Alvarez-Suarez, Maurizio Battino
Beside honey, honeybees
(Apis mellifera L.) are able to produce
many byproducts, including bee pollen, propolis,
bee bread, royal jelly, and beeswax. Even if the medicinal properties
of these byproducts have been recognized for thousands of years by
the ancient civilizations, in the modern era, they have a limited
use, essentially as nutritional supplements or health products. However,
these natural products are excellent sources of bioactive compounds,
macro- and micronutrients, that, in a synergistic way, confer multiple
biological activities to these byproducts, such as, for example, antimicrobial,
antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. This work aims to update
the chemical and phytochemical composition of bee pollen, propolis,
bee bread, royal jelly, and beeswax and to summarize the main effects
exerted by these byproducts on human health, from the anticancer and
immune-modulatory activities to the antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, hypotensive,
and anti-allergic properties.