The Therapeutic Effects of Bioactive Compounds in Honeybee Products

Honey, royal jelly, propolis, and bee pollen are potentially beneficial to humans due to their bioactive agents. Different molecules of these honeybee products have been extracted and pharmacologically characterized. Phenolic acid, Major Royal Jelly Proteins (MRJPs), and oligosaccharides are major bioactive substances of these products. Propolis, especially Brazilian type, contains caffeic acid phenethyl ester and artepillin C, with immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic effects. Bee pollen has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to vitamins and plant phenols. Additionally, flavonoids, unsaturated fatty acids, and sterols contribute in antiatherosclerotic, antidiabetic, and hypoglycemic properties of bee pollen. In the royal jelly, there are MRJPs and hydroxy-decenoic acid derivatives, especially 10-Hydroxy-2-Decanoic Acid (10-HDA). This review study was conducted in 2016-2017 with the aim of investigating the therapeutic effects of honeybee products by searching the databases of PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, IranMedex and Google Scholar using the keywords “honey, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant". In this study, we observed that the anti-inflammatory activity, immunomodulation, nerve regulation, and the prevention of metabolic syndrome are attributed to these factors. Given the importance of discovering and access to herbal medicines, this review provided a comprehensive overview of the bioactive compounds detected in the honeybee products as well as the therapeutic effects and biological side effects of them.