Nutrient and antioxidant profile of bee honey from Kerala Krishnasree V.1,*, Ukkuru P. Mary Department of Home Science, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Trivandrum 1Current address-School of Food Science, M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai, 600034 *Email: krishnasree.arun@gmail.com
Online published on 23 October, 2018. Abstract The nutrient profile and antioxidant activity of the major bee honeys viz., Apis cerana indica F. (Ac), Apis mellifera L. (Am), Apis dorsata F. (Ad), Apis florea F. (Af) and Trigona iridipennis S. (Ti) from their raw and processed obtained in the southern zone of Kerala were analyzed. It was observed the energy content ranged from 328 to 353 kcal and carbohydrate content from 80.25 to 88 g/100g. The protein content was negligible and the major amino acid proline was detected only in raw and processed Ad honey (4.5 mg each) and T. iridipennis (8, 3 mg) honeys. With respect to the mineral content potassium was detected at higher levels among all the honeys, which ranged from 30.5 to 52 mg/100g among the raw honeys and from 28 to 47.5 mg/100g among the processed honeys. The iron content was recorded from 0.54 to 1.4 mg/100g among the raw honeys and from 0.24 to 1.3 mg/100g among the processed honeys. The trace elements analyzed were zinc (0.04 to 5 mg/100g), copper (0.002 to 0.13 mg/100g) and manganese (0.001 to 0.35 mg/100g). All the honeys showed good to moderate levels of antioxidant activity (100 to 500 μg/ml) with the highest being in T. iridipennis honey. Significant reduction (1%) of antioxidant activity was exhibited among the processed honeys. Top Keywords Apis spp, Trigona iridipennis, honey, energy content, carbohydrate, protein, proline, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, antioxidant. Top |