Healthy sugar origin in stingless bee honey revealed



In conjunction with Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services, researchers from The University of Queensland have discovered the secret of how the uncommon, beneficial sugar found in stingless bee honey is produced.

The research team discovered that the bees' guts create the sugar trehalulose, which is not present in other honey or as a significant component in other foods.

Dr. Natasha Hungerford, an organic chemist and research director at UQ, said that since significant amounts of sugar trehalulose were found in stingless bee honey, the origin of this unusual sugar has remained a mystery.

Dr. Hungerford stated, "We did not know if the trehalulose was originating from an external source — possibly from natural vegetation.

As opposed to European honey bees, who only store their honey in honeycomb made entirely of beeswax, stingless bees store their honey in small pots made from a mixture of beeswax and tree resins, so it may have been something in the resin from the trees that stingless bees collect and bring home to their nest.

Around the world, tropical and subtropical regions are home to stingless bees.

The world's main species for honey production, the bigger European honey bees (Apis mellifera), produce substantially more honey.

However, stingless bee honey, which commands a premium price as a speciality delicacy because of its therapeutic value in Indigenous cultures, is highly valued.

Trehalulose is absorbed more gradually than other sugars, and as a result, blood glucose levels do not rise suddenly, according to Dr. Hungerford.

She said the UQ team was eager to ascertain whether stingless bee honey's trehalulose concentration could be boosted, potentially increasing its value.

"The three most prevalent sugars present in floral nectar—sucrose, glucose, and fructose—were given to caged colonies of the Australian stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria.

We discovered that stingless bees have a special ability to convert sucrose to trehalulose in their guts and generate honey that is high in trehalulose.

It is thought that native plants like Grevillea and Banksia offer nectar that is high in sucrose, and bees who feed from these plants naturally make honey that is high in trehalose.

The group also discovered that feeding stingless bees a table sugar solution allowed them to transform it into "honey" with high trehalulose levels.

However, Dr. Hungerford noted that the "honey" they create from table sugar falls short of what constitutes true stingless bee nectar-based honey.

"We created phony honey in the lab, and using isotopic analysis, we were able to tell it apart from real honey.

"Although it is not honey, this trehalulose-rich syrup can be regarded as a possible byproduct of stingless bees.

"Additionally, feeding the bees solely table sugar is bad for the hive's overall health.

Because honey includes a wide variety of phytochemicals derived from nectar, it is crucial for brood raising and colony population growth.

The UQ team will now attempt to categorize other horticultural crops that produce nectar with a high sugar content.

In order to determine if stingless bee pollination of crops like macadamia, lychee, and avocado may result in a high quantity of trehalulose in their honey, Dr. Hungerford noted that the team is looking into the nectar sugars present in these plants.   

Sourse: University of Queensland

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