Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of human exposure to pesticide residues in honey and other bees' products

Potential application of bee products in food industry: An exploratory review

Over the past eight years, bee products such as wax, honey, propolis, and pollen have generated intense curiosity about their potential food uses; to explore these possibilities, this review examines the nutritional benefits and notable characteristics of each product related to the food industry. While all offer distinct advantages, there are challenges to overcome, including the risk of honey contamination. Indeed, honey has excellent potential as a healthier alternative to sugar, while propolis's remarkable antibacterial and antioxidant properties can be enhanced through microencapsulation. Pollen is a versatile food with multiple applications in various products. In addition, the addition of beeswax to oleogels and its use as a coating demonstrate significant improvements in the quality and preservation of environmentally sustainable foods over time. This study demonstrates that bee products and apitherapy are essential for sustainable future food and innovative medical treatments.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of pollutants in environmental media

Environmental pollutants are ubiquitous in our environmental media, resulting in detrimental impacts on both humans and the environment. An evidence-based review, particularly a systematic review and meta-analysis, performs a crucial function in assessing the pollution status of pollutants in environmental media at national and global scales. We selected and thoroughly investigated 76 papers focusing on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of contaminants in environmental media. The need to broaden the scope of studies was observed with an increase in the total number of publications, and there were greater focuses on food safety, water pollution, biological pollution, and environmental risks. Furthermore, this review outlined the fundamental procedures involved in a systematic review and meta-analysis, including literature searching, screening of articles, study quality analysis, data extraction and synthesis, and meta-analysis. A meta-analysis typically comprises fixed- and/or random-effects meta-analysis, identifying and measuring heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis, publication bias, subgroup analysis, and meta-regression. We specifically explored the application of meta-analysis to assess the presence of contaminants in environmental media based on two different pollutant categories, namely, non-biological and biological pollutants. The mean value is commonly utilized to assess the pooled concentration of non-biological pollutants, while the prevalence serves as the effect size of biological pollutants. Additionally, we summarized the innovative applications, frequent misuses, and problems encountered in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Finally, we proposed several suggestions for future research endeavors.

Contamination of Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Royal Jelly by Pesticides and Sample Preparation Methods for Its Determination: A Critical Appraisal

Pesticides can easily enter the food chain, harming bee populations and ecosystems. Exposure of beehive products to various contaminants has been identified as one of the factors contributing to the decline in bee populations, and multiple food alerts have been reported. Despite this fact, royal jelly, a valuable bee product with nutritional and functional properties, has received less attention in this context. Pesticide residues of different chemical class can contaminate royal jelly when foraging bees collect pollen or nectar from pesticide-treated flowers, or in some cases, due to its frequent and inappropriate use in the treatment of mites in beehives. To monitor this issue and also make it more reliable, it is crucial to develop effective sample preparation methods for extracting pesticides from royal jelly for subsequent analysis. In this context, this review provides information about sample preparation methods (solid-phase extraction, solvent extraction, and QuEChERS-quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) and analytical methods that have been validated or improved to extract and analyze pesticides, respectively, in royal jelly samples of different origins. Finally, future perspectives are discussed. With this background, we aim to provide data that can guide future research related to this topic.

Clinical Assessment of Acute Organophosphorus Pesticide Poisoning in Pediatric Patients Admitted to the Toxicology Emergency Department

Pesticide poisoning in pediatric patients is still an important reason for presenting to the emergency department in Romania. In this context, the present study aims to raise awareness of the toxicological impact of pesticides on human health in pediatrics. For this purpose, the demographic characteristics, clinical assessment, and outcome of pediatric patients with acute pesticide poisoning admitted to the toxicology department of "Saint Mary" Emergency Children's Hospital from Iasi, were analyzed. This retrospective study focused on the clinical and laboratory data of patients aged under 18 years diagnosed with acute pesticide poisoning between 2010-2020. The statistical analysis was performed using the Statistica 10 package. A total of 49 patients presented with manifestations of acute pesticide poisoning, and the most common pesticide involved was diazinon. The most frequent exposure route was accidentally ingesting pesticide products (95%). The primary clinical manifestations were toxic encephalopathy, coma, depressive disorder, gastric disorders, and respiratory failure. Changes in the glycemic status, liver, and kidney damage were also present. Treatment included decontamination, administration of antidote, supportive care, and recommendations to be closely monitored to avoid a new incident. These results highlight the toxic potential of pesticides on human health and their biological consequences, which require an increase in consciousness of the precautions imposed on their use, especially when children are nearby.

Review of harmful chemical pollutants of environmental origin in honey and bee products

Honey is a natural food with many pro-health properties, which comprises a wide variety of valuable ingredients. It can also be the source of chemical contaminants of environmental origin, including POPs that can contribute to adverse health effects to human. Monitoring the degree of pollution of honey/bee products with hazardous chemicals is important from a nutraceutical point of view. In the present work, overview of recent literature data on chemical pollutants in honey/bee products originating from the environment was performed. Their MLs, MRLs and EDI were discussed. It can be concluded that huge amount of research concerned on the presence of TMs and pesticides in honey. Most of the studies have shown that honey/bee products sampled from urban and industrialized areas were more contaminated than these sampled from ecological and rural locations. More pollutants were usually detected in propolis and bee pollen than in honey. Based on their research and regulations, authors stated, that most of the toxic pollutants of environmental origin in honey/bee products are at levels that do not pose a threat to the health of the potential consumer. The greatest concern relates to pesticides and TMs, because in some research MLs in individual samples were highly exceeded.

Organochlorine pesticide residues in Uganda's honey as a bioindicator of environmental contamination and reproductive health implications to consumers

Honey has multifaceted nutritional and medicinal values; however, its quality is hinged on the floral origin of the nectar. Taking advantage of the large areas that they cover; honeybees are often used as bioindicators of environmental contamination. The focus of the present paper was to examine the quality of honey from within the vicinity of an abandoned pesticide store in Masindi District in western Uganda. Surficial soils (<20 cm depths) and honey samples were collected from within the vicinity of the abandoned pesticide store and analysed for organochlorine pesticide (OCP) residues using gas chromatograph coupled to an electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The mean level of ∑DDTs in all the soil samples was 503.6 µg/kg dry weight (d.w). ∑DDTs contributed 92.2% to the ∑OCPs contamination loads in the soil samples, and others (lindane, aldrin, dieldrin, and endosulfans) contributed only 7.8%. Ratio (p, p'-DDE+p, p'-DDD)/p, p'-DDT of 1.54 suggested historical DDT input in the area. In all the honey samples, the mean level of ∑DDTs was 20.9 µg/kg. ∑DDTs contributed 43.3% to ∑OCPs contamination loads in the honey samples, followed by lindane (29.8%), endosulfans (23.6%) and dieldrin (3.2%), with corresponding mean levels of 14.4, 11.4 and 1.55 µg/kg, respectively. Reproductive risk assessment was done based on the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) procedure. In our study, the calculated HIs for adults (102.38), and children (90.33) suggested high potential health risks to the honey consumers. Lindane, endosulfan and p, p'-DDD detected in the honey samples at levels exceeding the acute reference dose (ARfD) are known risk factors for spontaneous abortion, reduced implantation, menstrual cycle shortening, impaired semen quality, and prostate cancer in exposed individuals and experimental animal models.

To bee or not to bee? The bee extract propolis as a bioactive compound in the burden of lifestyle diseases

Propolis is a polyphenolic plant resin collected by bees to protect hives against pathogens and temperature drop. It exhibits antibacterial, antioxidant, and antiinflammatory properties. Propolis has been reported to possess antidiabetic properties and display beneficial effects against cardiovascular disease, gut dysbiosis, and chronic kidney disease. It has an excellent clinical safety profile, with no known toxic effects described so far. In this review, we discuss the salutogenic effects of propolis, with particular reference to modulating notable features of chronic kidney disease, notably those involving cardiovascular risks.