B-HIVE: Beeswax hydrogen isotopes as validation of environment, part II. Compound-specific hydrogen isotope analysis

Hydrogen isotope analysis has proven a useful tool to understand region-of-origin of food items and biologic materials. Here its application is extended to compound-specific hydrogen isotope analysis of authentic Apis mellifera beeswax and normal-alkanes in order to elicit geographic information. We found A. mellifera produced a characteristic distribution of hydrocarbons that was present in both lipid extracts from beeswax and liquid honey. We observed significant correlations between hydrogen (δ2H) isotope values of beeswax-extracted n-alkanes and both mean annual precipitation and tap water δ2H values. These data suggest the geographical variation in water δ2H values was reflected in beeswax n-alkane δ2H values while isotopic variation was likely related to local environment as potentially influenced by plant varietal. Further, extraction of n-alkanes from liquid honey is shown to be a viable method to expand compound-specific isotope analysis to liquid honeys.