Egyptian Bee Bread as a Valuable Nutrition Product: Chemical Composition, Antioxidants Activity, and Phenolic Profiles

Bee bread (BB) is a product of the honey bee colony (Apis mellifera L) which had high nutritive and therapeutic values. This study aimed to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidants activity, and bioactive compounds of Egyptian BB. Nine BB samples from 3 Egyptian governorates (Beheira, Fayoum, and Assiut) were collected and examined. The results showed that honey bees gathered pollen grains from 13 plant sources from the 3 regions. From Beheira governorate, Helianthus annuus (35%) and Salix alba (30%) were the major sources. In Fayoum governorate, the most important pollen source was Pimpinella anisum (60%),and in Assuit governorate, Trifolium alexandrinum was the most important and dominant source (85%). The chemical analysis of the BB samples from the 3 governorates revealed that samples from Fayoum BB (FBB) had the highest mean values of total protein, ash, phenols, flavonoids, and DPPH, whereas Assiut BB (ABB) had superior amount of total lipids, carbohydrates, sugars, and energy, while Beheira BB (BBB) had the greatest amount of total amino acids compared to other BB samples. For FBB the values of each of, P-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, p coumaric, ferulic, hesperidin, resveratrol, and quercetin were higher than those of the other two regions. For ABB the values of rosemarinic, myricetin, and syringic acid were higher in comparison with the other two governorates. For BBB the values of catechol, rutin, and ocumaric, were higher than those of the other 2 governorates. In conclusion, there were significant differences among BB collected from different Egyptian governorates.