Nutritive Value of 11 Bee Pollen Samples from Major Floral Sources in Taiwan

Abstract

Bee pollen is a nutrient-rich food that meets the nutritional requirements of honey bees and supports human health. This study aimed to provide nutritive composition data for 11 popular bee pollen samples (<i>Brassica napus</i> (Bn), <i>Bidens pilosa</i> var. <i>radiata</i> (Bp), <i>Camellia sinensis</i> (Cs), <i>Fraxinus griffithii</i> (Fg), <i>Prunus mume</i> (Pm), <i>Rhus chinensis</i> var. <i>roxburghii</i> (Rc), <i>Bombax ceiba</i> (Bc), <i>Hylocereus costaricensis</i> (Hc), <i>Liquidambar formosana</i> (Lf), <i>Nelumbo nucifera</i> (Nn), and <i>Zea mays</i> (Zm)) in Taiwan for the global bee pollen database. Macronutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, were analyzed, which revealed that Bp had the highest carbohydrate content of 78.8 g/100 g dry mass, Bc had the highest protein content of 32.2 g/100 g dry mass, and Hc had the highest lipid content of 8.8 g/100 g dry mass. Only the bee pollen Hc completely met the minimum requirements of essential amino acids for bees and humans, and the other bee pollen samples contained at least 1-3 different limiting essential amino acids, i.e., methionine, tryptophan, histidine, valine, and isoleucine. Regarding the fatty acid profile of bee pollen samples, palmitic acid (C_16:0), stearic acid (C_18:0), oleic acid (C_18:1), linoleic acid (C_18:2), and linolenic acid (C_18:3) were predominant fatty acids that accounted for 66.0-97.4% of total fatty acids. These data serve as an indicator of the nutritional quality and value of the 11 bee pollen samples.