Phenolic Profile of Castanea Bee Pollen from the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Bee pollen is a rich bee product, from the point of view of its nutritional and functional chemical characteristics. The chemical composition of bee pollen and its properties make this product an excellent food supplement for the human diet, due to its various functional bioactivities, such as having antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. These properties depend on the botanical origin of the bee pollen. Castanea sativa bee pollen is one of the most important types of pollen collected in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, the phenolic profile of Castanea bee pollen was featured in this study. For this, 11 samples of Castanea were selected through prior colorimetric separation using the CIELab* scale and verified with palynological analysis. Identification of the main phenol compounds was performed through LC/DAD/ESI-MSn analysis. The phenols compounds were quantified using calibration curves for caffeic acid, quercetin, and naringenin. The main results showed a profile formed of 19 compounds for all samples, although quantitative differences were found. Most of these compounds were phenolamides, with N1, N5, and N10-tricaffeoylspermidine being significantly (p < 0.05) the most abundant. Three isorhamnetin glycoside derivatives and one naringenin were also identified. The richness in phenolamides of Castanea bee pollen identified in this study suggests Castanea bee pollen as a functional food, owing to its healthy properties.