Healthy sugar origin in stingless bee honey revealed

Stingless bees are found throughout tropical and subtropical parts of the world and produce significantly less honey than their European honey bee counterparts (Apis mellifera) which are the world's major honey production species. However, stingless bee honey is highly prized as a specialty food, noted in Indigenous cultures for its medicinal properties, and attracts a high price. Now new research has identified that the Tetragonula carbonaria stingless bee, which is native to Australia, is a powerhouse at converting regular table sugar into the rare low GI sugar trehalulose, found only in stingless bee honey and not as a major component in any other food. Researchers also identified that the bees do this within their gut - the trehalulose does not result from native flora or unique resins that form the pots stingless bees store their honey in.

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