*3.6. TPC, TFC and Individual Phenolics Compounds*

In the Table 3 the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and individual phenolics compounds of bee pollen are presented. The TPC ranged between 4.64 and 17.93 GAE mg/g (*p* < 0.05) while the TFC ranged between 4.93 and 20.45 QE mg/g. The significant differences (*p* < 0.05) were found between TPC and TFC of pollen extracts from different sources which might be due to variation in the botanical origins as well as different climatic conditions. The values of TPC were in the same range as those reported for Indian bee pollen (9.79–35.63 GAE mg/g) [10] and Brazilian pollen (6.50 to 29.20 mg GAE/g) [47]. Regarding the TFC, the values are in agreement with those reported for Brazilian bee pollen (0.30–17.50 mg QE/g) [47] and Indian bee pollen (9.72–15.62 GAE mg/g) [10]. From the phenolics compounds studied, gallic acid and caffeic acid were not reported in any samples studied. The protocatechiuc acid and *p*-hydroxybenzoic acid were only observed in one sample (S2—sample with more than 45% of the pollen from *Pinaceae* spp.), vanillic acid was reported in three samples (S1, S3 and S24) and chlorogenic acid in five samples (S1, S12, S18, S21 and S23). The other phenolics studied were more present in the pollen samples. The major compound found was quercetin (S19—sample with more than 45% of the pollen from *Prunus* spp.), followed by myricetin (S16—sample with more than 45% of the pollen from *Quercus* spp.) and kaempferol (S23—sample with more than 45% of the pollen from *Robinia pseudoacacia*). The Brazilian bee pollen [48] had a similar concentration of chlorogenic acid and vanillic acid; from 56 samples just two samples contained gallic acid and three caffeic acid, so their findings are similar to ours and we can conclude that bee pollen is not a source of this phenolic acids; the *p*-coumaric acid, quercetin and kaempferol were in a much lower concentration than those reported in this study which may be attributed to the different botanical or geographical origin of the samples. Thakur and Nanda [10] reported that flavonoids are influenced by the botanical origin of the bee pollen (catechin: 0.94–19.10 mg/100 g; rutin: 4.81–24.83 mg/100 g; quercetin: 3.14–15.94 mg/100 g; luteolin: 1.06–5.86 mg/100 g; kaempferol: 0.12–9.35 mg/100 g; and apigenin: 0.46–3.02 mg/100 g), quercetin and kaempferol were the major flavonoids reported by them but in lower concentration than in this study.
