Evaluation of bacterial and enzymatic treatments affecting antioxidant activity in tropical bee pollen, suggesting functional food potential.
Key Points
This research aims to investigate how bacterial fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis affect the nutritional and antioxidant properties of tropical bee pollen.
Evaluated bacterial fermentation using Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and two commercial probiotics.
Applied enzymatic hydrolysis with Protamex® and Neutrase® at two concentration levels.
Measured proximate composition, moisture content, and antioxidant activity using ABTS and DPPH assays.
Fermentation and enzymatic treatments significantly modified the nutritional profile and increased moisture content.
Neutrase® 1% resulted in an 8.5-fold increase in antioxidant capacity measured by ABTS.
All enzymatic treatments consistently increased total phenolic content by 70-84%, with Protamex® 1% achieving the highest antioxidant activity of 2689 µM Trolox equivalents per gram.
Cite This Study
Romero-Villareal et al. (2026) studied this question.