Stingless bee-collected pollen (bee bread) is a mixture of bee pollen, bee salivary enzymes, and regurgitated honey, fermented by indigenous microbes during storage in the cerumen pot. Current literature data for bee bread is overshadowed by bee pollen, particularly of honeybee Apis. In regions such as South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia, information on stingless bee bee bread is mainly sought to promote the meliponiculture industry for socioeconomic development. This review aims to highlight the physicochemical properties and health benefits of bee bread from the stingless bee. In addition, it describes the current progress on identification of beneficial microbes associated with bee bread and its relation to the bee gut. This review provides the basis for promoting research on stingless bee bee bread, its nutrients, and microbes for application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Vegetative proteins from Malaysian strains of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis strains (Bt 11, Bt 12, Bt 15, Bt 16, Bt 17, Bt 21 and Bt 22) and Bacillus sphaericus H-25 strains (Bs 1 and Bs 2) were screened for haemolytic, cytotoxic and larvicidal activity. SDS-PAGE profiles of the Bacillus thuringiensis strains studied consistently showed major bands of 33-37 kDa and 47 kDa. Bt 16 also showed two bands of 66 kDa and 45 kDa similar to the previously reported binary vegetative protein, Vip1Ac (66 kDa) and Vip 2Ac (45 kDa). Both the Bacillus sphaericus strains showed a 35 kDa band that was similiar to a previously reported vegetative protein, the Mtx2 protein. Bs 2 also contains a 37 kDa band, similar to another vegetative protein, the Mtx 3 protein. With the exception of Bt 17 and Bt 21, vegetative proteins from all Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus sphaericus strains were highly haemolytic to human erythrocytes, causing more than 75% haemolysis at the highest concentration of 200 microg/ml. High haemolytic activity was associated with high cytotoxic activity with most of the haemolytic strains being indiscriminately cytotoxic to both CEM-SS (human T lymphoblastoid) and HeLa (human uterus cervical cancer) cell lines. Interestingly, the less haemolytic vegetative proteins from Bt 17 and Bt 21 demonstrated cytotoxic activity comparable to that of the highly haemolytic vegetative proteins. Bt 21 displayed toxicity towards both cell lines while Bt 17 was more toxic towards CEM-SS cells. Bioassay against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus larvae revealed that vegetative proteins from the Bacillus thuringiensis strains had activity against both species of larvae but vegetative proteins from Bacillus sphaericus were weakly larvicidal towards Cx. quinquefasciatus only.
Honey is a well-known natural sweetener and is rich in natural antioxidants that prevent the occurrence of oxidative stress, which is responsible for many human diseases. Some of the biochemical compounds in honey that contribute to this property are vitamins and phenolic compounds such as phenolic acids and flavonoids. However, the extent to which these molecules contribute towards the antioxidant capacity in vitro is inconsistently reported, especially with the different analytical methods used, as well as other extrinsic factors that influence these molecules' availability. Therefore, by reviewing recently published works correlating the vitamin, total phenolic, and flavonoid content in honey with its antioxidant activities in vitro, this paper will establish a relationship between these parameters. Based on the literature, vitamins do not contribute to honey's antioxidant capacity; however, the content of phenolic acids and flavonoids has an impact on honey's antioxidant activity.
Both honeybees (Apis spp.) and stingless bees (Trigona spp.) produce honeys with high nutritional and therapeutics value. Until recently, the information regarding potential health benefits of stingless bee honey (SBH) in medical databases is still scarce as compared to the common European bee honey (EBH) which is well known for their properties as therapeutic agents. Although there have been very few reports on SBH, empirically these products would have similar therapeutic quality as the EBH. In addition, due to the structure of the nest, few studies reported that the antimicrobial activity of SBH is a little bit stronger than EBH. Therefore, the composition of both the types of honey as well as the traditional uses and clinical applications were compared. The results of various studies on EBH and SBH from tissue culture research to randomised control clinical trials were collated in this review. Interestingly, there are many therapeutic properties that are unique to SBH. Therefore, SBH has a great potential to be developed for modern medicinal uses.