Formulation of Effervescent Tablet from Kelulut Bee (Trigona sp.) Pollen from East Kalimantan

Abstract

Since the beginning of human history, bee honey has been used by humans. However, there are also other bee products such as bee pollen (BP), royal jelly, propolis, and beeswax. Previous research has identified that pollen contains amino acids, lipids, flavonoids, micronutrients and many fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, E and D, as well as water-soluble vitamins such as vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C. The objective of this study is to formulate bee pollen as effervescent tablet. The method in this study used alkaline granulation which requires an oven process for 24 hours and the use of a combination of sodium bicarbonate with citric acid. Three formulas were optimized in this study. The stability test results showed that formula number 3 has an average moisture content of 0.5696±0.6154%, and average flow rate of 0.67±0.02054 g/sec, the average compressibility in formula number 1 is 0.046±0.0452%. Overall, it is also known that formula number 2 has the smallest dissolution time compared to other formulations. The effect of the combination of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate used in the formulation of effervescent tablets from bee pollen on the physical quality of the tablets, namely friability, hardness, and dissolving time, the higher levels of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate used do not have a significant effect on friability, hardness, and time dissolving effervescent tablets from bee pollen from kelulut bees (Trigona sp).