Colour, antioxidant capacity, phenolic and flavonoid content of honey from the Humid Chaco Region, Argentina

Abstract

Our objective was to correlate colour with total phenoliccompounds, total flavonoids and antioxidant capacity of honeyfrom the Humid Chaco region. With this purpose, 19 representativesamples were selected from the 2009-2012 year period. Pollenanalysis showed a predominance of native species of differentlandscapes such as forests and wetlands. Of the total number ofsamples, eleven were mixed or multifloral and eight samples weredominated by different native nectariferous woody species. The colourof honey, according to the Pfund scale, ranged from extra lightamber to dark amber. Total phenolic content ranged from 40.18 to118.82 mg GAE/100 g honey. Flavonoid content varied between6.94 and 67.76 mg QE/100 g honey, and antioxidant capacity, evaluatedby the DPPH radical method, between 17.36% and 56.53%.Extra light and light amber honeys had lower levels of total phenoliccompounds, total flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity than amberand dark honeys. The correlation observed between colour andflavonoids (r=0.78) was higher than that between colour and totalphenols (r=0.53). A direct relationship between phenolic contentand antioxidant capacity (r=0.91) was found. The studied honeys, ascompared to honeys from other regions, were rich in flavonoids andshow a noticeable antioxidant activity. It is important to take intoaccount these features for human health.