Pollen (pollen) is the male gametophyte of plant sexual reproduction, is the “sperm” of plant reproduction, containing a variety of vitamins, enzymes, trace elements, bioactive substances and other essential nutrients, with low-fat, high-protein and other characteristics, known as the “miniature Yingkou It has low fat, high protein and other characteristics, and is known as “miniature camping library”.

Rapeseed pollen is rich in nutrients, not only contains sugars, amino acids, fatty acids, trace elements, vitamins, etc., but also contains a wealth of flavonoids, enzymes and other biologically active substances. These nutrients have certain health effects. Therefore, canola pollen as a health food has attracted much attention.

Nutritional composition and health effects of canola pollen

1.1 Sugar compounds
Carbohydrates contained in rapeseed bee pollen (average value) generally account for more than 35% of the dry weight of pollen, and the content of pollen of different origins is different. Most of the saccharides contained therein are glucose, fructose and disaccharide (sucrose, maltose) and also contain a small amount of hemicellulose and cellulose.

Among them, glucose is 7.4% of the dry weight of pollen, fructose is 11.7%, disaccharide is 3.4%, total sugar is 31%, hemicellulose is 7.2%, cellulose 0.52%.

Health effects of sugar compounds
Polysaccharides extracted from rapeseed pollen have anti-tumor effects. Yang et al. found that in the study of tumor inhibition of rapeseed pollen polysaccharides; rapeseed pollen polysaccharides can significantly increase the activity of serum SOD, GSH-Px in tumor-bearing mice to reduce the activity of serum LDH, MDA content in tumor-bearing mice, so the polysaccharides can inhibit the growth of tumors by enhancing the antioxidant ability of the body Therefore, polysaccharides can inhibit tumor growth by enhancing the antioxidant capacity of the body, and at the same time play an anti-tumor role by increasing the expression of IL-2 and TNF-a mRNA in splenocytes of the body.

The polysaccharide extract of rapeseed pollen also has the effect of enhancing the immunity of the body, which is through the mechanism of improving the body’s non-specific cellular immunity and specific humoral immunity to improve the immunity of the body. Therefore, the development and utilization of polysaccharides from rapeseed pollen, especially as health food to enhance immunity, has a very promising prospect.

1.2 Amino acids
Rapeseed pollen contains various amino acids needed by human body, and these amino acids may differ according to the origin of pollen, but the difference is not big. The main amino acids are: glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine, lysine, isoleucine, serine, etc. Many studies have shown that the amino acid content of wall-broken pollen is greatly improved compared with that of unbroken pollen.

Cui Fengwen et al. analyzed the amino acid content of Sichuan rapeseed pollen and found that the total protein of wall-broken pollen increased by 27.16% compared with that of unbroken pollen, and the other nutrients of wall-broken pollen increased to different degrees except methionine and cysteine which decreased compared with that of unbroken pollen, among which lysine increased by 52%. Many studies have shown that different wall-breaking methods have great influence on the amino acid content of wall-broken pollen.

1.3 Fatty acids
Fatty acids in rapeseed pollen include saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids, generally accounting for 5% to 10% of the total mass of pollen, but the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in fatty acids is larger, mostly dominated by linolenic acid and linoleic acid, with the general mass fraction of linolenic acid being 22.60% and that of linoleic acid being 7.60%. There are also differences in the fatty acid content of rapeseed pollen of different origins.

Health effects of fatty acids
From the unsaturated fatty acids extracted from rapeseed pollen, linolenic acid, linoleic acid and other essential fatty acids for the normal growth of the human body to provide a material basis, while these fatty acid compounds in the rapeseed pollen has a significant inhibition of prostate-specific antigen (prostate-specific antigen, PSA) secretion and inhibition of the 5a-reductase activity and so on, so it can be on the prostate enlargement, so it can be on the prostate enlargement. Therefore, it can inhibit prostate hyperplasia.

1.4 Flavonoids
In addition to containing essential nutrients, canola pollen is also rich in flavonoids. Generally accounted for 1% to 5% of the dry weight of pollen. Some people use HPLC method of rape bee pollen flavonoids determination contains rutin, quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin and other single flavonoids.

Dong Jie et al. used ethanol to extract flavonoids from eight bee pollens and found that the flavonoid content of rapeseed pollen was the highest, nearly 27 times the total flavonoid content of lotus pollen. This proves that rapeseed pollen is an important resource for the extraction of flavonoids.

Health effects of flavonoids
Flavonoids have good health effects, such as antiviral, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, etc. K.C.P. Medeiros et al. found that flavonoids in bee pollen phenol extracts can stimulate the production of ovalbumin to resist allergies, which is a potential tool for the treatment of allergies.

The most important effect of flavonoids is antioxidant and free radical scavenging. It was found that the total flavonoids of rapeseed pollen had an inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation in mouse liver tissue, and had a better scavenging effect on hydroxyl radicals and DPPH radicals, and there was a linear relationship between the scavenging efficiency and the concentration of the total flavonoids within the range of 12.5~100 μg/mL.

1.5 Other nutrients and health effects
In addition to the above nutrients, canola pollen also contains other nutrients, vitamins, trace elements, enzymes and other nutrients.

Wang Juan et al. in the determination of water-soluble vitamin content of pollen treated with different wall-breaking methods (mechanical wall-breaking method, composite enzyme method, composite enzyme and ultrasonic method) found that the wall-breaking method had a great influence on the release of vitamins, and at the same time, among the various wall-breaking methods, the composite enzyme wall-breaking method was more gentle and less destructive to the nutrients, which is superior to the other methods, and the water-soluble vitamins content of its pollen extracts was the highest.

According to the literature, mineral elements account for 1% to 7% of the dry weight of pollen, and contain a variety of essential copper, zinc, strontium, manganese, molybdenum, tin and other trace elements, and some trace elements can combine with free radicals and inactivate free radicals.

Therefore, the nutrients in the pollen are very rich and have high health effects, and the development of rape pollen as health food has a broad application prospect.

Application of rapeseed pollen in food

Rapeseed pollen is rich in nutrients and health effects, and has attracted much attention in the field of food in recent years. Some pollen foods have been developed.

2.1 Emulsifier for compounding rape bee pollen softgel capsules

The extracts of rapeseed bee pollen are complex and diverse in composition, containing both polar and non-polar groups. It is difficult to add unemulsified rapeseed bee pollen into food, health care products, cosmetics and medicines, and it is also not conducive to the effective absorption of the human body. Fu Zhongmin et al. determined the optimal formulation of the emulsifier for the compounding of rapeseed bee pollen softgel capsule as follows: beeswax 6.5 g; monoglycerol 5.5 g; thymol 0.35 g; spironolactone 801.10 g; stearic acid 0.35 g. The emulsifier is a mixture of beeswax, monoethylene glycolide and stearic acid. .

2.2 Rapeseed Flower Pollen Functional Beverage

With rapeseed pollen as the main raw material, the fermentation liquid of rapeseed pollen was obtained after wall-breaking extraction, and various excipients were added to make the functional beverage. The optimal composition of the compound stabilizer of rapeseed pollen beverage was 0.1% xanthan gum, 0.1% CMC, 1.0% β-cyclodextrin, and the optimal formula of the product: the amount of the pollen fermentation liquid was added to be 40%, and the amount of sugar was added to be 10%, and the pH was 4.1.

2.3 Oilseed rape pollen bread

In the bread fermentation by adding wall-broken rapeseed pollen and then according to the general bread cooking method that is obtained rapeseed pollen bread, Wang Weixin et al. in the development of rapeseed pollen bread found that the use of mechanical temperature combination of wall-broken pollen bread obtained by the delicate taste, golden color, with flowers and leavening aroma, and the optimal process parameters: yeast inoculum amount of 2%, the amount of sugar added 12%, the total fermentation time of 5 h, the amount of rapeseed pollen added 3% of the complex aroma. 3% of canola pollen.

2.4 Rape pollen wine

Bee pollen wine is a product developed by people in the process of applying bee pollen, combined with dietary needs, with pollen and honey as raw materials, after brewing wine, i.e., pollen was added in the brewing process, and the use of fermentation to make the pollen wall-breaking has a variety of effects of sterilization, desensitization and wall-breaking.

Wang Yan et al. used to use ultrasonic crushing method, enzyme method and temperature difference wall-breaking method in the treatment of rapeseed pollen, and added to the honey fermentation broth, through the alcoholic fermentation, the production of pollen mead rich in active ingredients found that the pollen after the treatment of temperature difference wall-breaking method and added to the fermentation broth, and the finished product has the highest amino acid content. The product not only has high nutritional value and unique flavor, but also has good health effects.