BEE-GATHERED POLLEN LOADS SUSPENSION: PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF INTERACTION WITH MICROBIAL GROWTH FOR A POTENTIAL EMPLOYMENT AS A NATURAL FOOD ADDITIVE

Abstract

Pollen collected by honey bees is currently considered a health food with several nutritional and therapeutic properties; it contains essential aminoacids, several vitamins, bioflavonoids and other remarkable molecules such as phenolic compounds, phytosterols and phytochemicals. While numerous studies are available about the antimicrobial effect of some beehive products (honey, propolis), few researches were carried out on the potential bee pollen antibacterial activity. The aim of our investigation was to evaluate the effect on in vitro bacterial growth of the addition of multifloral bee-gathered pollen loads suspensions (1%, 2%, 4% v/v) to standard growth media. The employed pollen employed was gathered from bees in Lucca Province (Tuscany, Italy). Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC VanBV583, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Lactobacillus casei ATCC 334 and Lactococcus lactis subsp lactis ATCC 19435 were selected for the study. All concentrations determined approximately 1 log (CFU/mL) decrease in S. aureus and E. faecalis growth. P. aeruginosa, E. coli and L. lactis showed an almost unaffected growth rate. L. casei revealed instead a significant increase of growth rate in presence of added bee pollen. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on antimicrobial activity of an Italian bee pollen. Moreover, this is the first survey concerning the effect of bee-gathered pollen loads suspension on lactic acid bacteria growth. Our data seem to be promising for a potential use of bee pollen loads suspension as natural additive.