Therapeutic Potential of Commercial Honey: Antioxidant Activity

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the therapeutic potential of commercial honey by ascertaining their antioxidant activity of four brands of (OH1, BH2, LH3 and LS4) commercial honey samples purchased from supermarkets within Choba community in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study was carried out from October 2017 to January 2018. Analysis of phenolic and flavonoids content were carried out by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). For phenolic Florisil Column, mobile phase Toluene: cyclohexane: acetone (60:30:10) v/v, and Fluorescence detector were used with working standards of 0- 0.8 at wavelength of 765nm. Flavonoids were also analyzed by HPLC using mobile phase of 20: 10: 5 v/v and wave length of 506 nm. Results obtained from the study showed that % Vitamin E of honey sample was 0.098, 0.099, 0.105 and 0.121 while % vitamin C was highest in LS4 (0.535). % carotenoids were 0.046, 0.041, and 0.045. The highest percentage of carotenoids was in sample BH2. % proline values were 0.047, 0.067 and 0.045 particularly in two samples (LH3 & LS4). Forty-five phenolic acid of total phenolic contents obtained were 8.235, 9.632, 8.498 and 11.507 ppm with the highest value in sample LS4. Total flavonoid values obtained were 51.327, 35.687, 38.288 and 29.927 ppm. The study revealed that the high level of phenolic and flavonoid contents showed antioxidant capacity in the samples studied which were correlated to total phenol, total flavonoid content, vitamin C and E.