Bee Pollen Improves Muscle Protein and Energy Metabolism in
Malnourished Old Rats through Interfering with the Mtor Signaling Pathway and
Mitochondrial Activity
Nutrients. 2014 Dec 1;6(12):5500-16
Although the management of malnutrition is a priority in
older people, this population shows a resistance to refeeding. Fresh bee pollen
contains nutritional substances of interest for malnourished people. The aim
was to evaluate the effect of fresh bee pollen supplementation on refeeding
efficiency in old malnourished rats.
Male 22-month-old Wistar rats were undernourished by
reducing food intake for 12 weeks. The animals were then renourished for three
weeks with the same diet supplemented with 0%, 5% or 10% of fresh monofloral
bee pollen. Due to changes in both lean mass and fat mass, body weight
decreased during malnutrition and increased after refeeding with no
between-group differences (p < 0.0001).
Rats refed with the fresh bee pollen-enriched diets showed a
significant increase in muscle mass compared to restricted rats (p < 0.05).
The malnutrition period reduced the muscle protein synthesis rate and
mTOR/p70S6kinase/4eBP1 activation, and only the 10%-pollen diet was able to
restore these parameters. Mitochondrial activity was depressed with food
restriction and was only improved by refeeding with the fresh bee
pollen-containing diets.
In conclusion, refeeding diets that contain fresh monofloral
bee pollen improve muscle mass and metabolism in old, undernourished rats.
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