Quality Assessment of Goldenrod, Milkweed and Multifloral Honeys Based on Botanical Origin, Antioxidant Capacity and Mineral Content.

Marianna Kocsis,Rita Csepregi,Ágnes Farkas,Rita Filep,Gyula Hoffmann,Tamás Kőszegi,Alexandra Bodó

doi:10.3390/ijms23020769

Marianna Kocsis, Rita Csepregi + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23020769

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Abstract

The goal of the study was to evaluate the pollen spectrum, antioxidant capacity and mineral content of four Hungarian honey types, using multivariate statistical analysis. The light colored honeys were represented by milkweed honey and a multifloral (MF) honey with dominant pollen frequency of linden (MF-Tilia); the darker ones were goldenrod honey and a multifloral honey with Lamiaceae pollen majority (MF-Lamiaceae). The pollen spectrum of the samples was established with melissopalynological analysis. The absorbance of the honeys positively correlated with the antioxidant capacity determined with three of the used methods (TRC, TEAC, DPPH), but not with ORAC. The latter method correlated negatively also with other antioxidant methods and with most of the mineral values. MF-Tilia had high ORAC value, K and Na content. The MF-Lamiaceae had the highest K, Mg, P, S, Cu and Zn content, the last five elements showing strict correlation with the TRC method. The darker goldenrod honey had higher SET values and total mineral content, than the milkweed honey. The above character-sets facilitate identification of each honey type and serve as indicators of variety. The antioxidant levels and mineral content of honeys allowed their clear separation by principal component analysis (PCA).

Highlights

Honey is a natural product with significant nutritional and medicinal benefits due to its strong antibacterial and antioxidant activity
The honey types selected for this study were successfully distinguished based on the studied parameters
The correlation matrix interpreted the relationships between absorbance, antioxidant values, macro- and micromineral content, while principal component analysis (PCA) was used to illustrate the discriminating power of three groups of characters

Summary

Introduction

Honey is a natural product with significant nutritional and medicinal benefits due to its strong antibacterial and antioxidant activity. The antioxidant substances of honey, such as polyphenol compounds, vitamins and multielements are transferred from plants by bees [1]. These plant antioxidants are highly bioactive secondary metabolites, including the most abundant group, the phenolics, with the highest antiradical activity [2]. It is well known that main quality parameters of honey depend primarily on the botanical origin. In case of multifloral honeys, pollen analysis is still inevitable to establish their diverse botanical origin, which in turn can be related to other parameters of the honey, such as physicochemical characters or antioxidant activity

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