Comparative evaluation of analytical methods for determining the antioxidant activities of honey: A review

Scientific evidence suggests that honey is a novel antioxidant and it can reduce the risk of chronic diseases, including cancer and heart disease. It is particularly recommended for children and sportsmen as it can help to support the overall well-being of the elderly as well as the invalids. The objective of this paper is to review on honey with emphasis on its antioxidant activity, the major components responsible for the antioxidant activity, and the factors leading to the variation in the antioxidant activity of honeys. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of basic analytical methods used for the determination of the antioxidant activities (AOA) of honey are reviewed. It is hoped that this summarized review on the various methods available for the determination of the antioxidant activity of honey can provide the scientific community with reliable information to confirm the benefits of the antioxidant effects of honey and help to provide some basic information before a more expensive and time-consuming effort of identification and characterization of the antioxidant components is embarked. From this review, we can determine that environmental and climatic conditions, the botanical origin/the plant sources, the amount of phenolic compounds in honey or total phenolic content (TPC) and color are among the factors which can influence the antioxidant activity of honey. The review may also help to know that although many analytical methods are available to determine the antioxidant activity of honey, each method has its own limitations; so, it is important to employ a consistent and rapid method and in most cases it is necessary to use several tests to get good reliability.