Evaluation of physicochemical and antioxidant properties of sourwood and other Malaysian honeys: a comparison with manuka honey

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to evaluate the physical, biochemical and antioxidant properties of four Malaysian monofloral types of honey (gelam, longan, rubber tree and sourwood honeys) compared to manuka honey. Several physical parameters of honey, such as pH, moisture content, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), color intensity, total sugar and sucrose content, were measured. A number of biochemical and antioxidant tests were performed to determine the antioxidant properties of the honey samples. Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) levels were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS The mean pH, moisture content, EC and TDS of Malaysian honey were 3.90 ± 0.12, 17.01 ± 3.07%, 0.59 ± 0.17 mS/cm and 294.87 ± 81.96 ppm, respectively. The mean color and HMF level was 102.07 ± 41.77 mm Pfund and 49.51 ± 0.12 mg/kg, respectively. Sourwood honey contained the highest contents of phenolics (580.03 ± 0.38 mggalic acid/kg) and flavonoids (156.82 ± 0.47 mgcatechin/kg) with high DPPH radical scavenging activity (59.26 ± 3.77%) as well as ferric reducing power [648.25 ± 0.90 μM Fe (II)/100 g]. Sourwood honey also exhibited the highest color intensity. Several strong positive correlations were observed amongst the different antioxidant parameters and the various antioxidant tests. CONCLUSION This is the first time that the antioxidant potential of both sourwood and rubber tree honeys have been reported. Our results indicated that Malaysian honey (specifically sourwood honey and longan honey) is a good source of antioxidants compared to Manuka honey.