Pollen Chemistry & Biotechnology

Pollen Chemistry & Biotechnology summarizes current knowledge of the chemical composition of pollen, its importance as a functional food ingredient and its health promoting properties. As Introduction part a short elaborate about botanical characteristics and data, including morphology and anatomy of pollen and bee preferences, is given. Important factors such as the botanical and geographical origin, best practices for preservation of nutritional composition, bioactivity and safety of pollen are covered in full. The nutritional profile of pollen based on data for minerals, lipids and nutrients is presented. A detailed phytochemical profile of pollen based on data for phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamins, bioactive compounds is also covered. Areas for the improvement of the bioavailability of different nutrients and bioactive compounds of pollen via applied pretreatments are presented, as are best practices for adequate pollen collection, procession and storage in order to obtain safe products. At the end, an overview about pollen bioactivity as reason to use it as source of pharmaceuticals is made.