Compositional\nProfile of Honeys from Stingless Bees\nand Honeybee Honey from a West African Country Using <sup>1</sup>H\nNMR Spectroscopy

Forest honey is a prime nontimber forest product (NTFP)\nwith the\npotential to generate income in rural areas across the (sub-)tropics.\nIn the Afrotropics, if beekeeping and honey production from Apis mellifera are under active development, harvesting\nof stingless bee honey from wild nests is still ongoing, and very\nlittle is known about its chemical properties. To fill this gap, we\ncollected 21 samples of A. mellifera honey and 21 samples of stingless bee honey from eight localities\nin Burkina Faso. The chemical composition of the samples was characterized\nusing <sup>1</sup>H NMR spectroscopy. Our results showed that stingless\nbee honey composition differed from that of A. mellifera honeys with a lower sugar content and a higher acid content due\nto different fermentation processes, producing a honey with a higher\nfunctional chemodiversity. The greater functional diversity in stingless\nbee honey may influence synergistic interactions between its compounds,\nthereby amplifying the beneficial properties of the honey. Our results\nprovide a chemical characterization of Afrotropical stingless bee\nhoney, highlighting the complexity of this natural medicine whose\nproperties remain underinvestigated.