Ethyl Acetate Extract of Bee-Collected Pollen Rich in Flavonoids

Chemical Composition and Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Pollen Loads from Stingless Bee Melipona Subnitida Ducke
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 5/15/06

Abstract: Bee-collected pollen (“bee pollen”) is promoted as a health food with a wide range of nutritional and therapeutic properties. In order to evaluate the chemical composition, botanical origin and free radical scavenging activity of this food, two sample pollen loads from stingless bee Melipona subnitida were studied…

The free radical-scavenging activities of different solvent extracts of pollen were determined using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine (DPPH) assay. This activity decreases in the order: ethyl acetate>ethanol>hexane extract, which suggests that the ethyl acetate extract of the pollen, rich in flavonoids, is a good scavenger of active oxygen species.