Food Chem. 2015 Mar 15;171:84-8. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.08.112. Epub 2014 Sep 6.

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Polish herbhoneys.

Isidorov VA1, Bagan R1, Bakier S2, Swiecicka I3.

• 1Institute of Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry Department, University of Białystok, 15-399 Białystok, Poland.
• 2Department of Forestry, Białystok University of Technology, 17-200 Hajnówka, Poland. Electronic address: s.bakier@pb.edu.pl.
• 3Institute of Biology, Microbiology Department, University of Białystok, 15-950 Białystok, Poland.

Abstract

The present study focuses on samples of Polish herbhoneys (HHs), their chemical composition and antimicrobial activity.

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was used to analyse eight samples of herbal honeys and three samples of nectar honeys.

Their antimicrobial activities were tested on selected Gram-positive (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus schleiferi) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria, as well as on pathogenic fungi Candida albicans.

Ether extracts of HHs showed significant differences in composition but the principal groups found in the extracts were phenolics and aliphatic hydroxy acids typical of royal jelly and unsaturated dicarboxylic acids.

In spite of the differences in chemical composition, antimicrobial activity of the extracts of HHs against all the tested microorganisms except E. coli was observed.

Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

KEYWORDS:

Antimicrobial activity; Chemical composition; Genuine honey; Herbhoney; Royal jelly acids

PMID:

25308646