Simpler Method for Monitoring Antioxidant Power of Bee Products

Evaluation of the Antioxidant Power of Honey, Propolis and Royal Jelly by Amperometric Flow Injection Analysis
Talanta, Volume 71, Issue 3 , 28 February 2007, Pages 1387-1392

Abstract: In this paper is described the applicability of a flow injection system, operating with an amperometric detector, for measurement in rapid and simple way the antioxidant power of honey, propolis and royal jelly. The proposed method evaluates the reducing power of selected antioxidant compounds and does not require the use of free radicals or oxidants. Twelve honey, 12 propolis and 4 royal jelly samples of different botanical and geographical origin were evaluated by the electrochemical method and the data were compared with those obtained by the DPPH assay. Since a good correlation was found (R2 = 0.92) the proposed electrochemical method can be successfully employed for the direct, rapid and simple monitoring of the antioxidant power of honeybee products. Furthermore, the total phenolic content of samples was determined by the Folin–Ciocalteau procedure and the characteristic antioxidant activities showed a good correlation with phenolics (R2 = 0.96 for propolis and 0.90 for honey).