CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL CAPACITY OF SEVERAL ROMANIAN MONOFLORAL HONEYS WITH CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, COLOR AND POLYPHENOL
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL CAPACITY OF SEVERAL ROMANIAN MONOFLORAL HONEYS WITH CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, COLOR AND POLYPHENOL

Summary/Abstract: A series of monofloral Romanian honeys, namely linden, acacia, sunflower and rape honey were subjected to analysis in order to determine their contents in: phenols, flavonoids, aminoacids, protein, carotenoid and ascorbic acid, and their potential as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. The contents of phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoids were seriously variable, especially for acacia and linden honeys. The highest values for aminoacids were found on sunflower honey, while rape honey had the highest protein content. In a similar way, acacia honey registered the highest antioxidant activity, while the lowest was found in rape honey. Ascorbic acid was absent on all the types of honey selected and analyzed. The antimicrobial activity was screened using two Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. S. aureus was the most sensitive microorganism while Pseudomonas aeruginosa presented higher minimum active dilution values. Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli were both moderately sensitive to honey antimicrobial activity. A correlation between radical-scavenging activity and total phenolic content was found. Correlation existed also between color versus phenolics content, versus flavonoid content or between phenolic versus flavonoid.

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