IV.3.1.5. BEE BREAD

The bee bread is less known and used in the apitherapy like in the apidiet, too. The reason is not only the difficulty of harvesting it, but also that the bee bread is the source of proteins necessary for feeding the bee colony. That is why the beekeepers call it "the bee bread". A colony of bees annually harvest about 50kg of pollen, which are converted to bee bread. During the normal harvests as abundance, carrying about 50 flights a day, the foraging bee brings in the hive an amount of about 0.750 g of pollen. The young bees of the hive, which have not yet flown, take the pollen from the feet of the foraging bees, crumbling it with mandibles, knead it adding enzymes from their bodies, then mash it upside beating it in the combs cells, which they fill in a ratio of 2/3 of the volume. Then they add some honey and cover them with a film of wax. Under the influence of the ferments and enzymes, into the darkness of the hive, under carefully controlled humidity and temperature, the pollen passes through a process of limited fermentation. Now and thus the pollen becomes bee bread. In scientifically dosed proportions, the bee bread is used by the nurse bees to feed the brood.

The bee bread, of the biochemical point of view, has the structure of the pollens of origin, with important connotations for the soil and polleniferous flora. The pharmacodynamic superiority of the bee bread administering in various diseases was observed by the Romanian apitherapeutist doctor and researcher Ialomiteanu Mircea, who stressed that "The bee bread is indicated in all cases where the pollen is appropriate, too, especially in those where it is necessary to conduct a greater effect in a shorter period of time.". (Ialomiteanu, 1978).

The pollen, as the bee bread, too, drew the attention of the biologists, biochemists and doctors everywhere (Caillas, 1975; Alphandéry, 1988, Pillar, 1981; Palos, 1981; Hristea, 1981, Mateescu, 2005; Andrițoiu, 2002, 2006 etc.. ).

Using the published studies and the experience of practitioner apitherapeutist, too, I tried a systematization of the qualities of the bee bread, qualities that make it superior to the pollen:

1) the fermentation process and the addition of enzymes annihilate the allergen factors of the pollen, making the bee bread usable inclusively for the therapy of the people who have hypersensitivity reactions;

2) by fermentation is inhibited the pollen germination capacity;

3) it has a pH close to the human body;

4) during the limited controlled fermentation the nuclei are pushed out of the intine providing to the body all the arsel of nutrients, biostimulants and energy (especially when the patient suffer from digestive disorders and can not fully exploit the available substances of the pollen);

5) the sucrose of the pollen turns into monosaccharides that can be more easily assimilated;

6) appears the advantageous lactic acid, absent in the pollen;

7) during the changes it is submitted to in the combs cells there is an increase in vitamin K;

 8) it has a higher and more available to the body wealth of enzymes than the pollen;

 9) it contains some elements not yet identified;

10) it can be preserved longer and with more stable quality than the pollen. (Ialomiteanu et al., 1976; Juncu et al., 1979; Monterde, 1989; Dagh et al., 1991, Campos et al., 1997; Andritoiu, 2002, 2006; Andrițoiu and Andrițoiu, 2010).