Researchers at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, University of Greenwich, and Technical University of Denmark, have developed a groundbreaking nutritional supplement for honeybees—often referred to as a “superfood”—that dramatically enhances colony health. By engineering the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce six essential sterols—nutrients typically missing in commercial bee feeds—they’ve created a diet that closely mimics the nutritional profile of natural pollen.
The results were nothing short of astonishing: colonies fed the sterol-enriched supplement reared up to 15 times more larvae to the pupal stage compared to those on a standard diet. Plus, only those on the enriched diet continued brood production through the full three-month trial period.
This innovation arrives at a critical time, as honeybee populations are severely threatened by climate change, habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and declining floral diversity.
Since pollen serves as their main nutrient source—and pollen substitutes have proven nutritionally lacking—this superfood may offer a sustainable solution. By strengthening honeybee colonies, the supplement could also reduce their reliance on limited wild pollen, potentially benefiting wild pollinators as well.
Though more real-world field tests are still required, this feeding strategy holds promise as a powerful tool for safeguarding pollinators and, by extension, global food production.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
