Physicochemical and antioxidant properties of bee pollen and apple mango fruit as functional ingredients

Bee pollen and apple mango fruit are valued for their rich nutritional profiles and functional properties. However, their complementary benefits as functional ingredients in food and beverage applications remain underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of bee pollen and apple mango fruit as functional ingredients. The result shows that bee pollen had higher contents of protein (22.06%), fiber (6.31%), carbohydrate (42.12%), and energy (298.12 kcal/100 g) and bee pollen had good antioxidant activity as measured by three assays: DPPH (14.86 mgAAE/g), ABTS (20.95 mgAAE/g), and FRAP (292.26 µmol Fe2+/g), and bee pollen had significantly (P < 0.05) higher TPC (47.96 mgGAE/g) and TFC (16.63 mgQE/g) than apple mango fruit TPC (0.57 mgGAE/g) and TFC (0.05 mgQE/g). On the other hand, mango fruit had lower antioxidant activity as determined by DPPH (1.47 mgAAE/g), ABTS (0.78 mgAAE/g), and FRAP (0.64 µmol Fe2+/g), and mango fruit had higher moisture content (82.25%) and lower protein content (1.49%). In terms of mineral content bee pollen had significantly higher mineral contents iron (11.25 mg/100 g), zinc (4.14 mg/100 g), and magnesium (150.55 mg/ 100 g), while mango fruit had lower iron content (1.87 mg/100 g), zinc (1.79 mg/100 g) and magnesium (11.42 mg/100 g). Overall, bee pollen surpasses apple mango fruit in protein, fiber, carbohydrate, and mineral contents while also exhibiting strong antioxidant capacity. However, both bee pollen and apple mango fruit have complementary nutritional profiles, offering synergistic benefits as functional ingredients for food and beverage applications.