Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Canadian Honey Antioxidant, Antibacterial Activity Examined

The Relationship Between the Content of Maillard Reaction-Like Products and bioaCtivity of Canadian Honeys
Food Chemistry, Volume 124, Issue 3, 1 February 2011, Pages 869-874

Honey possesses antioxidant and antibacterial activities; however the compounds that are responsible for these activities are still under investigation.

To determine whether there are common features/compounds that underlie the antioxidant and antibacterial activities, 20 Canadian honeys were analysed using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and the broth micro-dilutions assay, respectively.

Principal component analysis revealed the highest correlation between ORAC and Maillard reaction-like products (MRLP). In addition, the extremely significant correlations between ORAC, MRLPs, phenolic content and honey colour may suggest that these compounds represent the same chemical entity and exert their antioxidant activity while being part of a higher molecular weight structure. Moreover, the antioxidant activity and MRLPs were also the dominant variables contributing to the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli however no such correlation against Bacillus subtilis.

In conclusion, MRLPs in honey appear to underlie the antioxidant and partially the antibacterial activity against E. coli.

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