Mechanisms associated to the antibacterial activity of honey from indigenous stingless honeybees

Recent years have seen growing interest on the part of consumers, the food industry, and researchers into food and the ways in which it may help maintain human health. Among foods that possess the characteristic of functionality, we may include all those originating in the beehive: honey, propolis, and royal jelly. Bees from the subtribe Meliponina are known as indigenous stingless honeybees, and have a high number of species distributed along the Neotropical regions. The honey produced by these bees is considered exotic, with a characteristic flavor and aspect. The honey from stingless bees is highly appreciated locally and traditionally considered to be more powerful as a natural medicine for treating common diseases than honey of the introduced and more productive honey bee (Apis mellifera). For this reason it has become a product with high market demand, achieving higher prices than the honey produced by bees of the Apis genus. Therapy with bee products is a worldwide old tradition, used for thousands of years but replaced by antibiotics in modern times. It is however, reviving currently due the increasing report of resistance of bacteria against antibiotics and the side effects of some pharmaceutical products. The determination of the antimicrobial potential of honey from stingless bees could identify these honeys as an attractive low cost alternative for treating bacterial infections. In this chapter, mechanisms associated to antimicrobial activity of honeys from stingless honeybees were reviewed.