Characterization and classification of Spanish honeydew and blossom honeys based on their antioxidant capacity

Honey is a very appreciated product for its nutritional characteristics and its benefits for human health, comprising antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antibacterial activities. These attributes depend on the specific composition of each honey variety, with the botanical origin as one...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández-Estellé, Mónica, Hernández-González, Víctor, Saurina, Javier, Núñez Burcio, Oscar, Sentellas, Sonia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/198711
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/198711
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Antioxidants
Mel d'abelles
Flavonoides
Honey
Flavonoids
Descripción
Sumario:Honey is a very appreciated product for its nutritional characteristics and its benefits for human health, comprising antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antibacterial activities. These attributes depend on the specific composition of each honey variety, with the botanical origin as one of the distinctive features. Indeed, honeydew and blossom honeys show different physicochemical properties, being the antioxidant capacity, mainly relying on the phenolic compound content, one of the most important. In this work, Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) index, total flavonoid content (TFC), and the antioxidant capacity based on the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay were determined for a total of 73 honeys (50 blossom honeys and 23 honeydew honeys). Mean content of oxidizable species (FC index) ranges from 0.17 to 0.7 mg eq. gallic acid g1, with honeydew honeys being the ones with higher values. Regarding TFC, mean values above 1.5 mg eq. quercetin g1 (method applied in the absence of NaNO2) were obtained for honeydew honeys and heather honey. Lower and not discriminatory values (below 0.3 mg eq. epicatechin g1) were obtained in the presence of NaNO2. The maximum antioxidant capacity was observed for thyme honeys (2.2 mg eq. Trolox g-1) followed by honeydew and heather honeys. Individually, only the FC index was able to discriminate between honeydew and blossom honeys, while the other spectroscopic indexes tested allowed the differentiation of some honey types according to the botanical origin. Thus, a holistic treatment of the results was performed using partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) for classification purposes using FC, TFC, and FRAP results as data. Honeydew and blossom honey were satisfactorily discriminated (error 5%). In addition, blossom honeys can be perfectly classified according to their botanical origin based on two-class PLS-DA classification models.