无刺蜂蜂蜜研究进展

Recent Progress of Stingless Bee Honey

无刺蜂是蜜蜂科(Apidae)麦蜂族(Meliponini)下一类具有重要生态价值和经济价值的授粉昆虫。同蜜蜂属各蜂种类似,无刺蜂可从开花植物蜜腺中采集花蜜,经酿造后储存于巢房中的甜物质即为无刺蜂蜂蜜。同普通蜂蜜相比,无刺蜂蜂蜜香气浓郁,呈现水分含量高、酸度高、糖分低、结晶慢等特点,具有独特的口感和良好的药用价值,因而也成为近年来国际蜂产品研究的热点。我国无刺蜂分布区域较为局限,仅分布于云南、海南、广西、西藏、台湾省等热带亚热带地区,因此我国目前对无刺蜂蜂蜜的研究相对较少。本文结合近年来本团队研究及以国内外无刺蜂蜂蜜研究情况为基础,围绕其理化指标及药理活性研究进行了综述,以期为我国无刺蜂蜂蜜质量标准、营养品质及功能评价研究提供参考。

Stingless bees are kinds of pollinating insects with important ecological and economic values, belonging to the Tribe Meliponini of the Family Apidae. Similar to honeybees, stingless bees collect nectar from the nectary of flowering plants, and such sweet substance stored in the hives is so-called stingless bee honey. Compared with ordinary honeybee honey, stingless bee honey has a stronger aroma, showing the characteristics with high moisture content, high acidity, low sugar content, and slow crystallization. In addition, it has a unique taste with beneficial medicinal values. Therefore, recent years stingless bee honey studies have become a hot spot in the international bee products research area. The distribution area of stingless bees in China is quite limited, and only distributed in tropical and subtropical regions like Yunnan, Hainan,Guangxi, Tibet and Taiwan Provinces. As a result, there are relatively few studies on stingless bee honey in China. This article reviews the recent advance of researches of stingless bee honey from our group as well as studies across the world.The physical and chemical indexes and pharmacological activities of the stingless bees are also summarized. This paper aims to provide reference for further researches of stingless bee honey in China relating the quality standard, nutritional quality and function evaluation studies.