*http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jmf.2007.0724*
*
*
*ABSTRACT*
Stingless bees (Tribe Meliponini) are a diverse group of highly eusocial
bees distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. *Trigona
carbonaria*honey, from Australia, was characterized by traditional
physicochemical
parameters (acidity, sugars, diastase, electrical conductivity,
hydroxymethylfurfural, invertase, nitrogen, and water content) and other
compositional factors (flavonoids, polyphenols, organic acids, and water
activity), as well as total antioxidant capacity and radical scavenging
activity. For the Australian *T. carbonaria*, the traditional analytical
parameters were similar to those previously reported for neotropical
stingless bee honey and confirm that honeys produced by Meliponini bees
possess several physicochemical properties that are distinctly different
from *Apis mellifera* honey, with higher values of moisture (26.5 ± 0.8 g of
water/100 g of honey), water activity (0.74 ± 0.01), electrical conductivity
(1.64 ± 0.12 mS/cm), and free acidity (124.2 ± 22.9 mEq/kg of honey) and a
very low diastase activity (0.4 ± 0.5 diastase number) and invertase
activity (5.7 ± 1.5 invertase number). The sugar spectrum was quite
different from that of *A. mellifera* honey, with 20.3 ± 2.9 g of
maltose/100 g of honey. The values of pH (4.0 ± 0.1), lactonic acidity (4.7
± 0.8 mEq/kg of honey), sucrose (1.8 ± 0.4 g/100 g of honey), and
fructose/glucose ratio (1.42 ± 0.13) fell in the same ranges as those of *A.
mellifera* honey. Citric (0.23 ± 0.09) and malic (0.12 ± 0.03) acid
concentrations (in g/kg of honey) of *T. carbonaria* honeys were in the
range described for *A. mellifera* honey. D-Gluconic was more concentrated
(9.9 ± 1.3 g/kg of honey), in the range of Italian *Castanea*, *Thymus*, *
Arbutus*, and honeydew honeys. Flavonoid content was 10.02 ± 1.59 mg of
quercetin equivalents/100 g of honey, and polyphenol contents were 55.74 ±
6.11 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100 g of honey. The antioxidant activity,
expressed as percentage of 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic
acid) cation (ABTS.+) decolorization, was 233.96 ± 50.95 *ìM* Trolox
equivalents, and free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH.)
depletion was 48.03 ± 12.58 equivalents of ascorbic acid. All reported
values are averages ± standard deviation. The antioxidant activity can
represent an important added value for *T. carbonaria* honey, to initiate a
medicinal approach for both nutritional and pharmaceutical applications,
besides further physicochemical characterization.
--
Juanse Barros J.
APIZUR S.A.
Carrera 695
Gorbea - CHILE
+56-45-271693
08-3613310
http://apiaraucania.blogspot.com/
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