Chestnut Honeys from Black Sea Region of Turkey Help Repair DNA Breaks

Phenolic profiles, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and DNA damage inhibitory activities of chestnut honeys from Black Sea Region of Turkey

Journal of Food Biochemistry

Honey is the product of beekeeping that has great market potential thanks to valuable nutritional and medicinal qualities. Black Sea Region coast of Turkey is suitable for production of chestnut production so chestnut-based honeys are highly produced in this region. To prove the beneficial therapeutic properties, 49 chestnut (Castania sativa Mill.) honey samples from the cities of Black Sea Region were investigated in terms of colors, total phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant activities, antimicrobial potentials, phenolics, and effects on hydroxyl radical-induced DNA breaks in the non-site-specific system. The amount of flavonoid was found to be limited in chestnut honey samples compared to the phenolic acids. A wide variation was observed in the amounts of total antioxidant activities of honey samples. It was displayed that most of the tested honey samples had the ability to repair the DNA breaks created by hydroxyl radicals.

Practical applications

As the chestnut honey (CH) is one of the most popular and valued honey around the world, the objective of this study was to reveal the potential of the Black Sea Region where CH production is being carried out effectively. Actually, CH samples investigated in this study had superior properties in terms of the parameters examined when compared with the results of similar studies. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the CH samples at effective levels could be attributed to the presence of phenolic substances at a significant level. The high phenolic contents of the samples are predicted to contribute to the ability to resist DNA damage. With all these determined features, CHs can be useful in various applications such as medicine, cosmetics, and food. In this way, CH production in this region contribute to both the region's and the country's economy.