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. 2022 Feb 3;13(2):166. doi: 10.3390/insects13020166

Table 4.

Fatty acid composition of dried mealworm larvae.

Fatty acid High-Frequency
Dried
Rack Oven
Dried
Infrared
Dried
Microwave
Dried
Freeze-
Dried
Lauric acid
(C12:0)
0.31 ± 0.01 a 0.34 ± 0.04 a 0.30 ± 0.01 a 0.26 ± 0.00 a 0.20 ± 0.01 b
Myristic acid
(C14:0)
3.48 ± 0.14 a 4.42 ± 0.01 b 3.19 ± 0.02 a 3.49 ± 0.02 a 2.88 ± 0.05 c
Palmitic acid
(C16:0)
20.60 ± 0.14 a 19.78 ± 0.15 b 10.89 ± 0.09 c 17.25 ± 0.02 d 19.94 ± 0.16 b,e
Palmitoleic acid (C16:1 ω-7) 1.34 ± 0.11 a 1.46 ± 0.01 b 1.77 ± 0.01 a 1.57 ± 0.01 a 1.47 ± 0.02 a
Stearic acid
(C18:0)
8.00 ± 0.38 a 3.45 ± 0.01 b 3.39 ± 0.01 b 2.18 ± 0.06 c 4.48 ± 0.01 d
Oleic acid
(C18:1 ω-9)
40.73 ± 0.13 a 36.78 ± 0.21 b 36.82 ± 0.12 b 43.76 ± 0.03 c 32.82 ± 0.04 d
Linoleic acid
(C18:2 ω-6)
25.54 ± 1.10 a 31.91 ± 0.12 b 41.27 ± 0.16 c 30.18 ± 0.02 b 35.89 ± 0.14 d
Linolenic acid
(C18:3 ω-3)
n.d. 1.12 ± 0.01 a 1.18 ± 0.03 b 1.01 ± 0.01 c 1.48 ± 0.02 d
Arachidic acid
(C20:0)
n.d. 0.34 ± 0.01 a 0.22 ± 0.01 b 0.17 ± 0.01 c 0.23 ± 0.02 b
Behenic acid
(C22:0)
n.d. 0.33 ± 0.01 a 0.22 ± 0.01 a 0.08 ± 0.01 b 0.35 ± 0.04 c
Lignoceric acid
(C24:0)
n.d. 0.21 ± 0.01 a,b 0.19 ± 0.01 a 0.06 ± 0.01 c 0.27 ± 0.02 b
∑SFA 32.38 ± 0.27 a 28.74 ± 0.10 b 18.34 ± 0.07 c 23.48 ± 0.07 d 28.35 ± 0.17 b
∑MUFA 42.07 ± 1.34 a 38.24 ± 0.20 b 38.59 ± 0.14 b 45.33 ± 0.04 c 34.29 ± 0.03 d
∑PUFA 25.54 ± 1.10 a 33.02 ± 0.13 b 43.07 ± 0.17 c 31.19 ± 0.04 b 37.36 ± 0.15 d
∑UFA 67.62 ± 0.28 a 71.26 ± 0.09 b 81.66 ± 0.07 c 76.52 ± 0.04 d 71.65 ± 0.17 b
PUFA/SFA 0.78 ± 0.03a 1.15 ± 0.01b 2.35 ± 0.02c 1.33 ± 0.01d 1.2 ± 0.01d
Peroxide value 0.69 ± 0.05 a 1.31 ± 0.07 a 1.28 ± 0.22 a 1.92 ± 0.35 a 7.22 ± 0.78 b

Fatty acid composition in percen total fatty acids; n.d. = not detected; SFA = saturated fatty acids; MUFA = monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFA = polyunsaturated fatty acids; UFA = unsaturated fatty acids. Peroxide values are expressed in mmol O2/kg fat. Data are shown as means ± SEM of three replicates. Significantly different means within one row do not share the same letters (analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, p < 0.05).