Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Malaysian Honeys are a Good Source of Antioxidants

Phenolic Acid and Flavonoid Composition of Malaysian Honeys

Journal of Food Biochemistry
Early View (Online Version of Record published before inclusion in an issue)

In the present study, the phenolic acid and flavonoid composition of eight different honeys (acacia, pineapple, gelam, longan, borneo, rubber tree, sourwood and tualang honeys) originating from different regions of Malaysia are reported. Solid phase extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for their identification and quantification. A total of thirteen different phenolic compounds consisting of seven flavonoids and six phenolic acids were investigated.

Among these phenolic compounds, five phenolic acids (gallic, caffeic, coniferic, benzoic and trans-cinnamic acids) and five flavonoids (catechin, myricetin, naringenin, hesperetin and kaempferol) were detected in the investigated honeys. Longan and tualang honeys contained the highest number (n = 7 for each) of phenolic compounds, while only five phenolic compounds were detected in acacia, borneo and rubber tree honeys. Among the phenolic acids, benzoic acid was the most abundant (75%) followed by caffeic acid, catechin, myricetin, gallic acid and naringenin. The mean concentrations of caffeic, gallic and benzoic acids as well as catechin in the analyzed Malaysian honeys were 2.49, 0.81, 0.64 and 0.61 mg/kg, respectively.

Overall, our results indicate that the investigated Malaysian honeys are a good source of different types of phenolic acids and flavonoids, which are important antioxidants.

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