Biological Activities and Chemical Composition of Bee Products and Derivatives

Dear Colleagues,

Honey is produced by honeybees, particularly Apis mellifera but also by A. cerana, A. dorsata, and by stingless bees (Melipona spp., Trigona spp.). However, other bee products can be obtained, such as bee pollen, bee bread, bee brood, propolis, beeswax, royal jelly, and bee venom. The products of stingless bees also include geopropolis or cerumen and pollen. The chemical composition and biological properties of bee products are highly dependent on several factors, including geographical origin, vegetation surrounding beehives, bee species, soils, and water quality. The economic importance of bee products is high since some of them can be used as food or food ingredients, and others as medicines owing to their medical and curative properties. However, this myriad of biological properties needs to be normalized, which also implies a chemical normalization and absence of contaminants or the lowest levels permitted by law. The in vivo assays of some bee products, including clinical ones, must also be improved and well characterized in order to guarantee their efficacy if intended to be used as medicine, beyond the quality and safety also required for food or food ingredients. All research and review articles dealing with chemical composition, in vitro and in vivo biological properties, clinical trials of bee products, new formulations in order to increase activity using nanotechnologies, or the use of bee products as food ingredients will be welcome for possible publication in one of five journals: Antioxidants, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Molecules, Current Issues in Molecular Biology and BioChem.

Dr. Maria da Graça Costa G. Miguel
Prof. Dr. Ofélia Anjos
Topic Editors