Nutraceutical properties of honey and pollen produced in a natural park

Gabriele Di Marco, Lorena Canuti, Stefania Impei, Donatella Leonardi, Antonella Canini

.
Honey Research Center, Department of Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy.

DOI: 10.4236/as.2012.32022                

Abstract

Honey bees and bee products are optimal monitors of the environmental quality; experimental beehives were placed in strategic places of Gran Sasso-Monti della Laga Park. Pollen and honey, produced in this protected area, were analyzed in order to demonstrate their good quality respect to those commercials. Physico-chemical parameters (water content, hydroxymethylfurfural), total flavonoid and phenolic contents and residue analysis (heavy metals, pesticides, tetracycline, sulfathiazole) were carried and evidenced their high quality. Moreover, melissopalynological analysis allowed us to establish a floristic census within the different places of the park. Data show that bee products are good quality, contain high levels of phenolics and flavonoids and show absence of pesticides and low concentration level of heavy metals and antibiotics. Due to this the human impact, even in protected areas, cannot be neglected; similarly environmental contamination by wild livestock was seen in different monitored sites.

Keywords

Honey; Nutraceutical Content; Environmental Monitoring; Melissopalynology; Residue Contamination

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Crane, E. (1984) Bees, honey and pollen as indicators of metals in the environment. Bee World, 55, 47-49
[2]	Ricciardelli, d’Albore, G. and Intoppa, F. (2000) Apoidei e Ambiente. In: Ricciardelli d’Albore, G. and Intoppa, F., Eds., Fiori e Api. La flora visitata dalle Api e dagli altri Apoidei in Europa. Calderini Edagricole, Bologna, 12-15.
[3]	Bogdanov, S. (2006) Contaminants of bee products. Apidologie, 37, 1-18. doi:10.1051/apido:2005043
[4]	Celli, G. (1983) L’ape come insetto test della salute di un territorio. In: Arzone, A., Conti, M., Currado, I., Marletto, F., Pagiano, G., Ugolini, A. and Vidano, C. Eds., Atti XIII Congresso Nazionale Italiano Entomologia, Torino, 637- 644.
[5]	Porrini, C., Ghini, S., Girotti, S., Sabatini, A.G., Gattavecchia, E. and Celli, G. (2002) Use of honey bees as bioindicators of environmental pollution in Italy. In: Dellivers, J. and Pham-Delègue, M. Eds., Honey Bees: Estimating the environment Impact of Chemicals, Taylor & Francis, London, 186-247.
[6]	Porrini, C., Sabatini, A.G., Girotti, S., Ghini, S., Medrzycki, P., Grillenzoni, F., Bortolotti, L., Gattavecchia, E. and Celli, G. (2003) Honey bees and bee products as monitors of the environmental contamination. Apiacta, 38, 63-70.
[7]	Hoffmann, F. (2005) Biodiversity and pollination: Flowering plants and flore-visiting insects in agricultural and semi-natural landscape [dissertation]. University of Groningen. Accessed 2007 Oct 15. http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/science/2005/f.hoffmann/
[8]	National Research Council. (2007) Status of Pollinators in North America. The National Academies Press, Washington DC.
[9]	Oldroyd, B.P. (2007) What’s killing American honey bees? PLoS Biology, 5, 1195-1199. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050168
[10]	Winfree, R. (2010) The conservation and restoration of wild bees. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1195, 169-197. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05449.x
[11]	Repubblica Italiana. (2004) Decreto legislativo N.179 del 21 maggio 2004, attuazione della direttiva 2001/110/CE concernente il miele. Gazzetta Ufficiale del 20/7/2004 n. 168.
[12]	UNI 10934, (2001) Miele determinazione dell’idrossi-metilfurfurale. Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione.
[13]	Von Der Ohe, W., Persano Oddo, L., Piana, M.L., Merlot, M. and Martin, P. (2004) Harmonized methods of melissopalynology. Apidologie, 35, 18-25. doi:10.1051/apido:2004050
[14]	Heimler, D., Vignolini, P., Dini, M.G. and Romani, A. (2005) Rapid tests to assess the antioxidant activity of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Dry beans. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 53, 3053-3056. doi:10.1021/jf049001r
[15]	Meda, A., Lamien, C.E., Romito, M., Millogo, J. and Nacoulma, O.G. (2004) Determination of the total phenolic, flavonoid and proline contents in Burkina Fasan honey, as well as their radical scavenging activity. Food Chemistry, 91, 571-577. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2004.10.006
[16]	Bradford, M.M. (1976) Rapid and sensitive method for the quantization of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of proteindye binding. Analytical Bio-chemistry, 72, 248-254. doi:10.1016/0003-2697(76)90527-3
[17]	Huq, S., Garriques, M. and Kallury, K.M.R. (2006) Role of zwitterionic structures in thesolid-phase extraction based method development for clean up of tetracycline and oxytetracycline from honey. Journal of Chromatography A, 1135, 12-18. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2006.09.025
[18]	Oka, H., Ito, Y., Ikai, Y., Kagami, T. and Harada, K. (1998) Mass spectrometric analysis of tetracycline antibiotics in food. Journal of Chromatography, 812, 309-319. doi:10.1016/S0021-9673(97)01278-8
[19]	Alfredsson, G., Branzell, C., Granelli, K. and Lundstr?m, ?. (2005) Simple and rapid screening and confirmation of tetetracycline in honey and eggs by a dipstick test and LC-MS/MS. Analytica Chimica Acta, 529, 47-51. doi:10.1016/j.aca.2004.08.050
[20]	Martel, A.C. and Zeggane, S. (2003) HPLC determination of sulfathiazole in French honeys. Journal of Liquid Chromatography & Related Technologies, 26, 953-961. doi:10.1081/JLC-120018895
[21]	Martel, A.C. and Zeggane, S. (2002) Determination of acaricides in honey by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. Journal of Chromatography A, 954, 173-180. doi:10.1016/S0021-9673(02)00126-7
[22]	Perkin Elmer Corporation. (1982) Analytical methods for Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, Manuel, Fish Products, 4-5.
[23]	AOAC. (1984) Official methods of analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 14th Edition, Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington DC.
[24]	Celli, G. (1994) L’ape come indicatore biologico dei pesticidi. In: D’Ambrosio, M. T. and Accorti, M., Eds., Atti del convegno: “L’Ape come insetto test dell’inquinamento agricolo” P.F “Lotta biologica e integrata per la diffusione delle colture agrarie e delle piante forestali” March 28, 1992, Florence, Italy. Ministero Agricoltura e Foreste, Rome, 15-20.
[25]	Porrini, C., Sabatini, A.G., Girotti, S., Ghini, S., Medrzycki, P., Grillenzoni, F., Bortolotti, L., Gattavecchia, E. and Celli, G. (2003) Honey bees and bee products as monitors of the environmental contamination. Apiacta, 38, 63-70.
[26]	Persano Oddo, L. (2000) La qualità e la valorizzazione del miele. In: Persano Oddo, L., Sabatini, A.G., Accorti, M., Colombo, R., Marcazzan, G.L., Piana, M.L., Piazza, M.G. and Pulcini, P., Eds., I Mieli Uniflorali Italiani. Nuove schede di caratterizzazione, 105.
[27]	Repubblica Italiana, (2004) G. U. No. 168 del 20/07/2004. Decreto legislativo 21 maggio 2004. Attuazione della direttiva 2001/110/CEE concernente la produzione e commercializzazione del miele. Italy.
[28]	Conti, F. and Manzi, A. (1997) Centaurea diluita Aiton, new to the Italian flora. Flora Mediterranea, 7, 51-53.
[29]	Conti, F., Manzi, A. and Tinti, D. (2002) Aggiunte alla flora d’Abruzzo. Informatore Botanico Italiano, 34, 55- 61.
[30]	Conti, F. (2004) La flora ipsofila dell’Appennino centrale: ricchezza ed endemiti. Informatore Botanico Italiano, 35, 383-386.
[31]	Conti, F., Tinti, D., Scassellatti, E., Bartolucci, F. and Di Santo, D. (2007) Le piante vascolari endemiche dell’ Appennino centrale. Biogeographia, XXVIII, 25-38.
[32]	Bentrocelj, J., Dober?ek, U., Jamnik, M. and Golob, T., (2007) Evaluation of the phenolic content, antioxidant activity and color of Slovenian honey. Food Chemistry, 105, 822-828. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.01.060
[33]	Pichichero, E., Canuti, L. and Canini, A. (2009) Characterisation of the phenolic and flavonoid fractions and antioxidant power of italian honeys of different botanical origin. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 89, 609-616. doi:10.1002/jsfa.3484
[34]	Lila, M.A. (2006) Perspective: The nature-versus-nurture debite on bioactive phytochemicals: The genome versus terrori. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 48, 1498-1150.
[35]	Canini, A., Pichichero, E., Alesiani, D., Canuti, L. and Leonardi, D. (2009) Nutritional and botanical interest of honey collected from protected natural areas. Plant Biosystems, 143, 62-70. doi:10.1080/11263500802633543
[36]	Schramm, D.D., Karim, M., Schrader, H.R., Holt, R.R., Cardetti, M. and Keen, C.L. (2003) Honey with high levels of antioxidants can provide protection to healthy human subjects. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 51, 1732-1735. doi:10.1021/jf025928k
[37]	Gheldof, N., Wang, X.H. and Engheseth, N.J. (2002) Identification and qualification of antioxidant components of honey from various floral sources. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 50, 5870-5877. doi:10.1021/jf0256135
[38]	McKibben, J. and Engheseth, N.J. (2002) Honey as a protective agent against lipid oxidation in ground turkej. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 50, 592-595. doi:10.1021/jf010820a
[39]	Alesiani, D., Cicconi, R., Mattei, M., Montesano, C., Bei, R. and Canini, A. (2008) Cell cycle arrest and differentiation induction by 5,7-dimethoxycoumarin in melanoma cell lines. International Journal of Oncology, 32, 425-434.
[40]	Migliore, L., Godeas, F., De Filippis, S.P., Mantovi, P., Barchi, D., Testa, C., Rubattu, N. and Brambilla, G. (2010) Hormetic effect(s) of tetracycline as environmental contaminant on Zea Mays, Environment and Pollution, 158, 129-134. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2009.07.039
[41]	Kumar, K., Gupta, S.C., Baidoo, S.K., Chander, Y. and Singh, A.K. (2005) Antibiotic use in agricolture and its impact on the terrestrial environment. Advances in Agronomy, 87, 1-54. doi:10.1016/S0065-2113(05)87001-4
[42]	Dolliver, H., Kumar, K. and Gupta, S. (2007) Sulphamethazine Uptake by Plants from Manure-Amended Soil. Journal of Environmental Quality, 36, 1224-1230. doi:10.2134/jeq2006.0266
[43]	Bogdanov, S., Imdorf, A., Charrière, J.D., Fluri, P. and Kilchenmann, V. (2001) Quality of bee products and sources of contamination. LApis, 11, 5-10.
[44]	Sungpyo, K. and Diana, S. A. (2007) Potential ecological and human health impacts of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria from wastewater treatment plants. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 10, 559-573.
[45]	Halling-Sorensen, B., Nors Nielsen, S.N., Lanzky, P.F., et al., (1998) Occurrence, Fate and Effects of Pharmaceutical Substances in the Environment—A Review. Chemosphere, 36, 357-393.
[46]	Debayle, D., Dessalces, G. and Granier-Loustalot, M.F. (2008) Multi-residue analysis of traces of pesticides and antibiotics in honey by HPLC-MS-MS. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 391, 1011-1020. doi:10.1007/s00216-008-2003-2
[47]	National Residues Plan. (2010) ai sensi dell’ art. 13 del D.L. del 16 marzo 2006 n. 158 per la ricerca di residui negli animali e nei prodotti di origine animale.