Honey Additives May Not Improve Antioxidant Properties

Antioxidant Properties and Phenolic Content of Different Floral Origin Honeys
Journal of ApiProduct & ApiMedical Science, Vol. 1 (2) pp. 43 – 50, April 2009

…This is the first study reporting the results of a representative screening of Croatian honeys for antioxidant capacity, conducted on a sample set of 18 honeys and 8 special honey preparations.

On the basis of employed analytical methods, the tested honeys may be considered easily accessible natural sources of antioxidants and valuable additions to everyday diet. Taken with fruit tea, they get transformed to functional fruit drinks.

Although special honeys with the addition of various fruit/vegetable extracts and propolis were initially presumed to have the best antioxidant properties, the results have shown that heterofloral honeys are characterized by the highest mean TP content (58.75 mg GAE/100 g), the highest mean reducing capacity (57.66 mM Fe(II)) and the best mean radical scavenging properties with respect to both DPPH· (16.66 mg AAE/100 g) and ABTS·+ radicals (35.27 mg AAE/100 g) in the analyzed set of honey samples.

From the consumer’s point of view, caution should be exercised in choosing honeys, since those often advertised as containing potent antioxidants may in fact contain additives that do not improve their antioxidant properties…