A Comparative Characterization of Physicochemical and Antioxidants Properties of Processed Heterotrigona itama Honey from Different Origins and Classification by Chemometrics Analysis.

Shamsudin Shamsudin,A.r A.R,Selamat Selamat,Jambari Jambari,Sanny Sanny,Khatib Khatib

doi:10.3390/molecules24213898

Abstract

Stingless bee honey produced by Heterotrigona itama from different botanical origins was characterised and discriminated. Three types of stingless bee honey collected from acacia, gelam, and starfruit nectars were analyzed and compared with Apis mellifera honey. The results showed that stingless bee honey samples from the three different botanical origins were significantly different in terms of their moisture content, pH, free acidity, total soluble solids, colour characteristics, sugar content, amino acid content and antioxidant properties. Stingless bee honey was significantly different from Apis mellifera honey in terms of physicochemical and antioxidant properties. The amino acid content was further used in the chemometrics analysis to evaluate the role of amino acid in discriminating honey according to botanical origin. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed that the stingless bee honey was completely distinguishable from Apis mellifera honey. Notably, a clear distinction between the stingless bee honey types was also observed. The specific amino acids involved in the distinction of honey were cysteine for acacia and gelam, phenylalanine and 3-hydroxyproline for starfruit, and proline for Apis mellifera honey. The results showed that all honey samples were successfully classified based on amino acid content.

Highlights

Stingless bee honey is a valuable product made by stingless bees
The moisture content, free acidity and 5-HMF content of the Apis honey sample were 14.67 g/100 of g, 39.22 meq/kg of honey and not detected (ND), respectively. This indicates that Apis honey was of a good quality, while all stingless bee honey samples met the requirements set by the Malaysian stingless bee honey standard [23]
The physicochemical and antioxidant properties of stingless bee honey from acacia, starfruit, and gelam produced by Heterotrigona itama bees were characterized

Summary

Introduction

Stingless bee honey is a valuable product made by stingless bees. It has been reported to have higher nutritional and medicinal values compared to Apis mellifera honey [1]. The production of stingless bee honey is limited mainly because of the low quantities produced by stingless bees [2]. Stingless bee honey has been reported to be beneficial for human health due to the high antioxidant content [3]. It is estimated that the price of stingless bee honey is much higher than Apis mellifera honey [4]. The market price of stingless bee honey can be as high as Molecules 2019, 24, 3898; doi:10.3390/molecules24213898 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules

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