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Fatty acids composition of monofloral bee pollen

The composition and amount of fatty acids in diet are important for both, the bees community and humans. Considering that the chemical composition of bee pollen is strongly related to botanical origin, and that the vegetation is specific to a particular geographical area, the aim of this study was to collect samples of unifloral bee pollen from different locations in Croatia and examine specifics of fatty acids composition, and the influence botanical origin on bee pollen fatty acid composition. Bee pollen samples were collected in the period from April 1 to June 15, 2019. After sorting pollen load by colour and qualitative melissopalynological analysis, seven monofloral samples were selected. A total of 25 fatty acids (from C12 to C24) were identified with a significant difference in their proportions in the samples. n-3 fatty acids are most prevalent in Aesculus hipposcantum bee pollen (49.11 %) and least present in Quercus pubescens (13.12 %). The proportion of n-6 fatty acids in the samples ranged between 14.40 % in A. hipposcantum bee pollen to 38.28 % in Salix spp. bee pollen. Palmitic acid was dominant saturated fatty acid in most analysed samples, ranged from 14.78 % in Salix spp. pollen to 32.70 % in Q. pubescens pollen. Exception is Taraxacum officinale pollen where pentadecanoic acid (19.75 %) was dominant while its content in other bee pollen samples was below 5 %. Odd-chain fatty acids, pentadecanoic (C15:0) i heptadecanoic acid (C17:0), are present in small amounts in dairy fat, some fish and plants and have been associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease, adiposity, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases. Therefore, their finding in some species of bee pollen is a strong motivation for further research.

monofloral bee pollen ; composition ; fatty acids

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