CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF ARGENTINA NORTHWESTERN HONEY

MANZUR, M.; BEDASCARRASBURE, E.; MALDONADO, L. ; ALBERTO, M.R.; ISLA, M.I.

BIOCELL

INST HISTOL EMBRIOL-CONICET

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2013 vol. 38 p. 163 - 163

0327-9545

Honey is a very complex food product produced by honeybees and varies considerably in composition as a result of plant origin, the area, weather, conservation and so on. Many pathological processes are associated with oxidative stress caused by an excess of free radicals. For this reason is important to find natural products with antioxidant capacity. We evaluate the chemical composition (moisture, soluble solids, total sugar content, reducing sugars, protein, total phenolics and flavonoids) and the free radial scavenging capacity (ABTS radical) of seven honey samples from Santiago del Estero and Tucumán (Argentina). The chemical composition has values within the ranges proposed in the Argentine Food Code. Moisture between 14 and 15%, soluble solids between 79.8 and 80.5°Bx (grados Brix), total sugar content between 610 and 772 mg/gr honey, reducing sugars between 447 and 604 mg/gr, protein between 0.5 and 1.2 mg/gr, total phenolics (gallic acid equivalent,GAE) between 163 and 672 µgGAE/gr and flavonoids (quercetin equivalent, QE) between 8 and 45 µgQE/gr. All samples showed free radical scavenging capacity but the most effective one was from Frías (Santiago del Estero) which botanical origin is quebracho. This may be due to the higher content of total phenolic compounds in this sample than the others.