Source of the beneficial sugar in stingless bee honey discovered

Nandini Pharasi, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology

Researchers have cracked the question of what produces the unique, beneficial sugar found in stingless bee honey. A new natural source of the rarest disaccharide trehalulose, stingless bee’s honey, has been identified by Australian researchers.

What did researchers say about this?

Dr Natasha Hungerford, the study’s leader, stated that “the origin of this uncommon sugar has remained a mystery since the discovery of high quantities of sugar trehalulose in stingless bee honey.” 

Dr Hungerford also stated, “We do not know if trehalulose originated in other places, such as local flowers. We want to look at the nectar sugars found in crops like macadamia, lychee, and avocado, and see if stingless bee pollination of these crops might result in a high amount of trehalulose in their honey”.

Insights into the study:

Researchers discovered that the bees conduct the process of producing this sugar in their guts. The trehalulose does not come from natural flora or the peculiar resins that create the pots in which stingless bees store their honey. This one-of-a-kind sugar is an isomer of sucrose that accounts for between 13% and 44% of the delectable nectar of five species of stingless bees found in Australia, Malaysia, and Brazil. While trehalulose is 70% as sweet as regular sugar, it is far healthier. Glucose and fructose are linked by a unique glycosidic bond in this sucrose isomer, which enzymes in our small intestine break down three times slower.

This results in a more gradual release of monosaccharides into our bloodstream, which may be beneficial for diabetics. Furthermore, the unique sugar–sugar bond prevents bacteria in our mouth from digesting it, making trehalulose an ideal ingredient for sweetening our meals while avoiding dental illness.

Method used:

Despite numerous claims regarding the health advantages of stingless bee honey, relatively few researches have been conducted to investigate its composition. When the researchers used ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to analyze the types of honey, they found glucose, fructose, and a peak that looked like a disaccharide but did not match their reference. That signal was present in all of the stingless bee honey samples, regardless of origin. Previous findings showed maltose, however, neither UPLC nor mass spectrometry investigations matched maltose standards. The researchers then used preparative HPLC to extract the mystery component before conducting numerous NMR studies to determine the trehalulose spectra.

These findings mark the first time trehalulose has been isolated from a natural dietary source. The researchers believe that their improved UPLC methods might be utilized to validate the quality of this uncommon and costly delicacy.

Findings:

1. The researchers also discovered that stingless bees fed a table sugar solution could transform it into a ‘honey’ with high amounts of trehalulose. However, their “honey” made with sugar does not meet the requirements for thornless honey made with nectar.

2. The honey we created in the lab is, in fact, synthetic honey, which we were able to tell apart from genuine honey using isotopic testing.

3. Although this trehalulose syrup can be considered a potential by-product of stingless bees, it is not honey.

4. Feeding the bees solely table sugar is also bad for the hive’s health.

5. The stingless bee Honey is widely valued as a portion of specialty food, with Indigenous cultures praising it for its therapeutic powers, and commands a premium price.

6. Honey includes a broad spectrum of phytochemicals derived from nectar, making it critical for brood rearing and colony population development.”

7. Stingless bees, distributed across the world’s tropical and subtropical regions, generate much less honey than their European honey bee counterparts (Apis mellifera), which are the world’s primary honey producing species.

Also read: AstraZeneca Vaccine: Successful Clinical Trial results

Reference:

1. Hungerford, N. L., Zhang, J., Smith, T. J., Yates, H. S. A., Chowdhury, S. A., Carter, J. F., Carpinelli de Jesus, M., & Fletcher, M. T. (2021). Feeding sugars to stingless bees: Identifying the origin of trehalulose-rich honey composition. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c02859

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Author info:

Nandini Pharasi is a third year student, pursuing biotechnology from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology. She plans to be a researcher in future. 

Social media link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nandini-pharasi/ 

Publications:

1. https://bioxone.in/news/the-cellular-pathways-that-trigger-spitting/
2. https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/modest-eruptions-may-cascade-into-a-catastrophic-disaster/