Antibacterial Activity of Stingless Bee Honey Rivals that of Manuka

Antibacterial Activity of Honey from Stingless Honeybees
Polish Journal of Microbiology, 2007, Vol. 56, No 4, 281-285

…In the present study, we clearly showed that honey from stingless honeybees possesses strong total and non-peroxide antibacterial activities using the same method for measuring the UMF number, suggesting that the antibacterial activity of stingless honeybees is powerful, even when compared to those of manuka honey…

Stingless honeybees keep honey in storage pots built of cerumen (Crane, 1992; Amano et al., 2000). Cerumen is made of wax secreted from the glands on the abdomens of workers, combined with propolis, which is derived from resins collected from plants. Therefore, the honey is influenced by the infiltration of the propolis content…

Propolis possesses antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties (Marcucci, 1995; Burdock, 1998; Bankova et al., 2000). The resin content of the plants affects the antibacterial activity of the propolis (Marcucci, 1995; Burdock, 1998; Bankova et al., 2000).

In summary, differences in the antimicrobial activity of honeys from Apinae honeybees and stingless honeybees would be due to propolis….