Physicochemical, melissopalynological and antioxidant properties of artisanal honeys from Lebanon

Sixteen honeydew and 15 floral honeys from Lebanon were analyzed for pollen spectra and physicochemical parameters. A total of 37 families and 67 taxa were recorded with the honeybees producing honeydew honey exhibiting a more diverse foraging behavior than those making floral honeys. The honeydew and floral honeys exhibited differences in moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity, color, protein and Maillard reaction products. The honeydew honeys contained more total phenols, had higher antioxidant contents, and displayed higher antioxidant capacities than the floral samples in the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, oxygen radical absorbance capacity, inhibition of superoxide dismutase activity and protection of red blood cells against hemolysis assays. The honey samples exhibited higher antioxidant capacities, in the aforementioned assays, than their corresponding methanol-extractable phenol fractions although the differences did not reach statistical significance in the floral samples. The relative antioxidant capacity indices which integrate measures of antioxidant capacity from the different assays of the honey samples and their corresponding extracts exhibited similar patterns (r = 0.9774, 0.9937) thereby indicating that the antioxidative behavior of the entire honeys is mirrored by their methanol-extractable phenolic fractions.