Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
5132718 Food Chemistry 2017 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

•Nordic honeys exhibited antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus.•Surprisingly high levels of MGO were found in Nordic forest honeys.•Buckwheat, raspberry and honeydew honeys had the highest antibacterial and antioxidant activity.

The objective of this study was to screen the antibacterial and antioxidant activity of thirty nine honey samples from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Their physicochemical properties were analysed, antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH assay and antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus was assessed by microdilution assay. The honey samples obtained were buckwheat, caraway, clover, dandelion, fireweed, heather, lime tree, lingonberry, rape, raspberry, sweet clover, willow, mire, honeydew and polyfloral. Eleven honey samples showed high antioxidant activity. With 15% honey dilution, three unifloral honeys had over 85% inhibition against growth of P. aeruginosa and ten honey samples against S. aureus. The buckwheat, raspberry and honeydew honeys showed the highest antibacterial and antioxidant activity. An unexpectedly high amount of methylglyoxal was found in mire and forest honeys. Some phenolic compounds are shown to be plant species-specific floral markers due to their appearance in specific unifloral honey samples.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemistry Analytical Chemistry
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