Phenolic profile and antioxidant properties of Polish honeys

Abstract

Summary The phenolic components of honeys have great participation in their nutritional value and antioxidant activity. Moreover, phenolic components are promising markers for the determination of botanical and geographical origin of honey. The purpose of the present work was to study the antioxidant activity and profiles of phenolic acids and flavonoids of honeys of various origins. The total phenolic content of honeys varied from 4.46 to 15.04 mg of gallic acid equivalents per 100 g of product and the total phenolic acid content determined chromatographically varied from 201.05 to 2089.08 μg per 100 g of product. Buckwheat honey exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and contained the highest total phenolic amount, whereas rape honey exhibited the lowest values in this respect. Moreover, the buckwheat honey contained the highest amount of phenolic acids. There were significant linear correlations between total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of honey extracts in the reaction with DPPH • (1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS • + (2,2′‐azinobis‐(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid)) free radicals. In most samples, p‐coumaric acid was the dominant phenolic acid (39.1–677.2 μg per 100 g). The honeys also contained considerable amount of gallic acid (6.0–913.8 μg per 100 g). Among flavonoids naringenin was predominant in the most studied honey samples.