Abstract            Volume:9  Issue-8  Year-2021         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

There has been an increasing demand for natural products, particularly the bee products in the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Honeybees produce honey, royal jelly, propolis, bee venom, bee pollen, and beeswax, which potentially benefit to humans. Bee bread and pollen are widely used for apitherapeutic purposes due to the nutritional and medicinal properties. These include about 200 different substances, especially enzymes, free amino acids and vitamins. Clinical standardization of these products is usually hindered due to chemical variability and inconsistency of bee products depending on honeybee and botanical sources. The major bioactive compounds in honeybee products include phenolics, methylglyoxal, royal jelly proteins (MRJPs), and oligosaccharides. Royal jelly consist of antimicrobial jelleins and royalisin peptides, MRJPs, and hydroxy-decenoic acid derivatives, notably 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA), which has potent antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, neuromodulatory, metabolic syndrome preventing, and anti-aging activities. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester and artepillin C found in propolis shows good antiviral, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects. The major components of bee venom consists of toxic peptides like melittin (pain-inducing), apamin (SK channel blocking), and phospholipase A2 (allergenic). Bee pollen rich in vitamins, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory plant phenolics. Bee pollen also contains antiatherosclerotic, antidiabetic, and hypoglycemic flavonoids, unsaturated fatty acids, and sterols. Beeswax is pharmaceutical as well as widely used in cosmetics and makeup. Given the importance of drug discovery from natural sources and present Covid-19 pandemic situation, this review is aimed at providing an exhaustive screening of the bioactive compounds detected in honeybee products and of their curative or adverse biological effects.

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