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Table of contents
1. Some special nutritional properties of honey - a brief review....................................................................... 1

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Document 1 of 1

Some special nutritional properties of honey - a brief review

Author: Al-Qassemi, Rasha; Robinson, R K
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Abstract: Apart from highlighting the overall nutritional value of honey, this review draws attention to the
potential importance of the oligosaccharide content of honey. The possible role of these compounds as
prebiotics is emphasised, for a number of them have been found to stimulate species of Bifidobacterium that
inhabit the human colon. It is suggested that the therapeutic properties of the anti-oxidants in honey could be
equally relevant, and the desirability of the growing practice of adding royal jelly to retail products is discussed
briefly. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Full text: Headnote
Keywords
Headnote
Honey, Nutrition, Food industry
Headnote
Abstract
Headnote
Apart from highlighting the overall nutritional value of honey, this review draws attention to the potential
importance of the oligosaccharide content of honey. The possible role of these compounds as prebiotics is
emphasised, for a number of them have been found to stimulate species of Bifidobacterium that inhabit the
human colon. It is suggested that the therapeutic properties of the anti-oxidants in honey could be equally
relevant, and the desirability of the growing practice of adding royal jelly to retail products is discussed briefly.
Introduction
Honey is one of the oldest and best-loved sweetening agents for foods and, over the centuries, it has still
retained a "natural" image (Aparna and Rajalakshmi, 1999). Whilst a number of species of bee, such as Apis
dorsata in Nepal (Joshi et aL, 2000), may be important locally, most honey is produced by two species of bee,
namely Apis mellifera (the so-called honey bee) and Apis cerana which has been "domesticated" in parts of
Asia (Crane, 1975). The raw material for the production of "floral" honey is nectar, a dilute solution of sugars
found in the nectaries of flowering plants, while "honeydew" honey is made by bees that extract sugars from the
living tissues of plants or fruits, and/or scavenge the excretions of insects that tap the veins of higher plants.
In general, floral honey is superior to the honeydew variant and, in theory, the nectar from any plant can be
used by bees to make honey. However, there are massive differences between plant species with respect to
their potential to support populations of bees and in the compositions of their nectars. The dominant
components in all nectars are carbohydrates and, while some nectars contain mainly sucrose, in others, the
sugars are confined to glucose and fructose; some minerals and vitamins may be present at low levels (Crane,
1975).
It is the transformation of this sugary nectar into honey that is important from a human standpoint. In essence,
the nectar is collected by foraging bees in honey sacs and, on returning to the hive, the nectar is passed to
another bee(s) before finally being stored in a cell in the comb. After deposition in the cell, the evaporation of
water gradually raises the solids content to around 80 per cent over a period of three to four days and, during
this stage, invertase secreted by the bees converts most of the sucrose into hexoses to give the final sugar
spectrum of the honey. Additional changes in carbohydrate composition and a degradation of pollen accompany
the further manipulation of the nectar by the bees during the filling of the cells of the comb (Vonderohe, 1994),
and the air-tight seal of wax ensures that the honey cannot absorb water and, perhaps, spoil.
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Extraction of the honey from the combs at the end of the season involves breaking the wax seal and removing
the honey by centrifugation. The honey is then strained and, in some cases, filtered and heated to eliminate
yeasts that could cause spoilage. Once bottled, some products can be prone to hardening due to the
crystallisation of the sugars. The presence of "nuclei" in the honey can be relevant but, as all natural honeys
contain pollen grains, the presence of particulate matter is inevitable unless it has been finely strained (Codex
Alimentarius, 2001). Consequently, control of crystallisation depends on keeping the glucose to water ratio in
the region of 1.50-1.75, for it is this ratio that governs the extent and rate of the process (White, 1975). If this
aspect can be controlled, then honey should remain a viscous, fluid material during ambient temperature
storage.
Chemical composition
The characteristic aroma and flavour of honey, often associated with the dominant source of pollen, such as
"heather honey" in England, "lotus tree honey" in the Arabian Gulf or "buckwheat honey" in North America
(Zhou et aL, 2002) is one of the most attractive features of the product, and CastroVazquez et al. (2003)
identified over 120 volatile compounds that may contribute to the unique aroma of rosemary honey. However,
many retail brands are non-specific, blended products identified only by their country of origin and, in an attempt
to check on authenticity, most attention has centred on the major components.
Although a variable natural product, Mincione and Leuzzi (1993) suggest the most floral honeys produced in
Italy would have an average composition along the lines shown shown in Table I, but the contrast with specific
floral types is quite marked with respect to both the reducing and total sugars. However, with some commercial
brands the variations can, as shown in Table II, be even greater. Anupama et al. (2003) noted a similar pattern
amongst commercial honeys on sale in India, with total reducing sugars varying from 613 to 726gkg^sup -1^.
In an attempt to limit variability and the possible marketing of sub-standard or adulterated products, Codex
Alimentarius (2001) has proposed the compositional standards shown in Table III. There are, of course,
differences between the standards of different countries or regions and, in the Middle East for example, the Gulf
Standards (1993) suggests a minimum level of apparent reducing sugars of 650gkg^sup -1^ instead of the
minimum of 600gkg^sup -1^ for fructose + glucose (Codex Alimentarius, 2001); it is noticeable that brands (D)
and (E) in Table II would be rejected against both standards, as would at least one of the samples from India
(Anupama et al., 2003). There is a widely accepted maximum of 50gkg^sup -1^ for sucrose in floral honeys, but
some entirely authentic honeys, such as citrus honey, can have sucrose concentrations up to 100gkg^sup -1^
due to the source of the nectar (International Honey Commission, 2002). In honeydew honeys, in particular, a
range of oligosaccharides can contribute up to 170gkg^sup -1^ to the figure for total sugars and, in even in floral
honeys, the contribution can be up to 80gkg^sup -1^ (Weston and Brocklebank, 1999). Aside from their
nutritional value, it is relevant that these carbohydrates contribute to the low water activity of honey (< 0.75), a
value that makes it a "safe" product to store in the home (Corry, 1979).
Honey is reported to contain little or no fat, but free fatty acids like palmitic, (16:0), oleic (18:1) and linolenic
(18:3) were easily detected in white clover honey (Trifolium repens) (Tan et al., 1988; Singh and Bath, 1997).
The protein content varies between around 1.0 to 4.Ogkg^sup - 1^, and the higher values are most notable for
their impact on the thixotrophic properties of the product. Some eighteen amino acids have been detected in
honey and, according to Mincione and Leuzzi (1993), proline, lysine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid are the
most readily detected. The ash content is usually well inside the legal limit of 5gkg^sup -1^, but Devillers et al.
(2002) have warned that some sources of nectar can become polluted by heavy metals. A number of B-group
vitamins are present, but their concentrations are generally low (National Honey Board, 2003).
However, while the gross composition of honey is of concern to the regulatory authorities who are attempting to
ensure that the public do not waste money on the purchase of adulterated products, it is important to remember
that true honey may also contain a range of trace substances which may well endow the product with special
therapeutic properties. The identification of any one compounds) from honey and ascribing to it a specific
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benefit is a formidable task, but there are certain components of honey that may well contribute to its reputation
as a "health food".

Therapeutic or prophylactic properties

Honey has long been regarded as having antimicrobial properties (National Honey Board, 2003) and, in part,
this activity is considered to be due to hydrogen peroxide liberated enzymatically in honey (Willix et al., 1992);
organic acids could be important as well. The Ancient Egyptians are reported to have used honey to control eye
infections (Abdulrahman, 1990), and its enhancement of wound-healing in humans (Ashoor, 1985; Nzeako and
Hamdi, 2000; Cooper, 2001; Aysan et al., 2002) could be due, at least in part, to a restriction of wound
pathogens like Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Cooper and Molan, 1999). The growth of Gram-positive pathogens
like Staphylococcus aureus can also be inhibited by honey, and Cooper et al. (2002) have queried whether this
"ancient remedy" might not become important as methicillin-resistant strains of this species continue to cause
problems.
However, while the value of the topical application of honey remains is still being debated, consumption for its
prophylactic or therapeutic value has become more popular. The only restriction on its use relates to young
children (under one year), as honey can contain the spores of Clostridium botulinum picked-up by bees from
fields and other sources. As the natural competitive microflora of the intestines has not developed in tiny infants,
Cl. botulinum is able to colonise the gut wall and secrete toxins (Adams and Moss, 1995). Although toxicity from
Cl. botulinum has been linked with a small number of "cot deaths" in the USA and around 10 per cent of
samples of natural honey may contain the spores, it is problem that can be easily avoided.
It is evident from all the analyses of natural honey that it is an extremely complex material but, more recently,
attention has centred on a few specific components that could explain at least some of the alleged benefits of

consumption, and some prominent ones are considered below.

Oligosaccharides
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A therapeutic property could be regarded as a beneficial activity that is not immediately evident from a gross
chemical analysis of a foodstuff, and the potential action of honey as a "prebiotic" is one feature of the product
that could be of interest. Thus, a healthy intestinal microflora in humans includes two important groups of
bacteria, namely: Lactobacillus spp. which colonise the distal region of the small intestine and can, among other
things, protect the body against infections like salmonellosis; and Bifidobacterium spp. which inhabit the colon
and restrict over-growth of the walls by yeasts or bacterial pathogens and, perhaps, reduce the risk of colon
cancer by outcompeting putrefactive bacteria capable of liberating potential carcinogens (Samona and
Robinson, 1992; Tamime and Robinson, 1999).
Damage to these indigenous microfloras can be easily initiated by oral antibiotics or other stresses (Sellars,
1991), and it is for this reason that the consumptions of so-called "functional foods" containing lactobacilli and/or
bifidobacteria has become widespread in Europe and North America (Robinson, 2000). When cultures of one or
both of the above genera are introduced into a diet, they tend to be referred to as "probiotic" cultures, and Fuller
(1989) defined probiotics as "a live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host animal by
improving its intestinal microbial balance". This definition stressed the requirement of viability of the probiotic
cultures and introduced the aspect of a beneficial effect on the host and, today, this definition of probiotics is
widely accepted. However, following the acceptance of "healthpromoting" or probiotic cultures by the consuming
public, attention was focussed on methods for maximising the impact of the cultures following ingestion and/or
stimulating, concurrently, the indigenous microflora of the individual concerned. The use of specific dietary
adjuncts seemed to be most likely option, and Gibson and Roberfroid (1995) gave the name "prebiotic" to a
non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or
activity of a limited number of bacteria in the intestine.
In particular, it has been found that the activity of certain species of Bifidobacterium in the colon can be
stimulated by fructooligosaccharides (Gibson et al., 1995; Reddy, 1999; Shin et al., 2000) and the
oligosaccharides from soya beans (Saito et al., 1992; Liu, 1997). Honey is also effective in stimulating the
growth of bifidobacteria (Kajiwara et al., 2002), and again it may be oligosaccharides that are the active
components (Weston and Brocklebank, 1999). The importance of these oligosaccharides lies in the fact that the
alphagalactosidic linkages present cannot be digested by humans (Gibson and Roberfroid, 1995; Gopal et al.,
2001) but, on entering the colon, they can be metabolised by bifidobacteria.
It is in this context that honey could be important for, in New Zealand honeys for example, Weston and
Brocklebank (1999) identified a number of oligosaccharides like isomaltose and melezitose of potential prebiotic
activity (Ustunol and Gandhi, 2001). Oddo et al. (1995) found similar materials in Italian honeys along with
raffinose, a galactose-glucose-fructose moeity that is known from studies with soya bean to be actively
metabolised by bacteria in the colon.
Although the stimulatory role of oligosaccharides on the gut flora(s) has received most attention, it has been
speculated that the same components in honey could inhibit the development of pathogens like Helicobacter
pylori or Staphylococcus aureus in the body. More specifically, it has been proposed that the oligosaccharides
could become attached to the cell walls of the bacteria and prevent adhesion to human tissues (Somal et al.,
1994). The validity or otherwise of this hypothesis remains in some doubt (Weston and Brocklebank, 1999), but
it may be relevant that the spectrum of oligosaccharides varies the type of honey (Perez-Arquillue et al., 1995)
and the number of such compounds present in any one type of honey may exceed twenty (Swallow and Low,
1990). It is clearly possible that this anti-microbial activity of honey merits further attention.
Anti-oxidants
Free radicals and reactive oxygen species have long been cited as the agents responsible, at least in part, for
the aging of cells, and it is generally agreed that humans can protect their tissues against damage by the
consumption of foods high in anti-oxidants. It is of interest, therefore, that natural honeys can contain high
concentrations of flavonoids and other phenolic anti-oxidants. In some honeys from Tunisia, the level of
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flavonoids is low (0.2mgkg^sup -1^) but, in other geograpical regions, the change in flora gave honeys with
24.Omgkg^sup -1^ (Martos et al., 1997). Similar figures were reported by Yao et al. (2003) for Leptospermum
honeys from Australia (average of 22.2mgkg^sup -1^), while the mean total content of phenolic acids reached
51.4mgkg^sup -1^; in Manuka Honey from New Zealand - another honey based on Leptospermum, the values
for flavonoids and total phenolic acids were 30.6 and 140.0mgkg^sup -1^, respectively.
Gheldof et al. (2002) demonstrated, in vitro, that the phenolic compounds in honey contributed very significantly
to its antioxidant capacity, and this view is supported by a study by Schramm et al. (2003) that involved feeding
Buckwheat Honey to healthy human subjects. The consumption of this honey at a rate of 1.5g/kg body weight
not only increased significantly the total phenolic content of the blood plasma of the subjects, but also its antioxidant capacity. As the latter authors point out, the average human consumes kilogram quantities of sweetners
during a year, and a switch to honey could bring benefits with respect to the antioxidant defense system.
Pollen
Another unique feature of honeys - except those that are fine-filtered (Codex Alimentarius, 2001) - is the
presence of pollen collected accidently from the flowers that supplied the nectar. The actual counts will vary with
the type of honey, but normal floral honeys will be expected to have counts ranging from 20-80,000 individual
pollen grains per lOg of honey (Sawyer, 1988). In cases where an excess of pollen has been accumulated in a
hive, pollen counts of 500,000 per 10g of retail product have been recorded and, in such cases, the nutrients in
the pollen may well be contributing to the therapeutic properties of the honey.
One of the problems in assigning a therapeutic benefit to pollen in honey is that each grain is very small, and
estimates suggest that I mg of pollen may contain between 1,000 and 100,000 individual grains depending on
the plant species concerned (Stanley and Liskens, 1974). Nevertheless, pollen does contain protein and
carbohydrates, as well as vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamins of the B-group (Mincione and Leuzzi, 1993). In
addition, a range of minerals have been indentified in pollen (Li et aL, 1997), along with carotenoids
(Montenegro et al., 1997).
Royal jelly
Royal jelly is secreted over a period of about one week by the hypopharyngeal glands of worker bees, and it is
whitish fluid which is fed to all bee larvae during the first three days of development; queen bees consume it
throughout their adult lives. The gross composition of royal jelly is shown in Table IV, and it is of note that
sugars, protein and lipids are well represented. B-group vitamins are present as well, but fat-soluble vitamins
like A and E appear to be missing. However, the protein content is regarded as of especial interest with repect
to any "healthpromoting" properties (Lee et al., 1999) for, at least in rats, the protein is digested to liberate some
peptides that are biologically active with respect to hypertension (Matsui et al., 2002). The relevance of this
finding for humans remains to be established, and Kamakura et al. (2001) noted that the stability of specific
proteins in royal jelly does vary with conditions of storage.
Further examples of a direct link between an identified compound in royal jelly and an observed therapeutic
effect are limited, and yet claims that royal jelly can alleviate the symptoms of fatigue, anorexia and general
debility are common (Tamura, 1985). Compounds with anti-microbial properties are present as well (Lakin,
1993).
To achieve a response, most studies tend to employ daily doses of 200-500mg, and an interesting development
in the marketing of honey is the incorporation of royal jelly. For example, certain brands of lotus tree honey from
the United Arab Emirates contain around 15g of royal jelly in 500g of honey, i.e. 30mgg- 1. Consequently, a
"dessert spoon" of honey "drizzled" over ice cream or some simlar dessert would provide the optimum daily
intake, and it may be that many consumers will find this special honey extremely beneficial to their general
health.

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References
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phenolic acids and abscisic acid in Australian and New Zealand Leptospermum honeys", Food Chemistry, Vol.
81, pp. 159-68.
Zhou, QX., Wintersteen, C.L. and Cadwallader, K.R. (2002), "Aroma-active components that contribute to the
distinct malty flavor of buckwheat honey", Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol. 50, pp. 2016-21.
AuthorAffiliation
The authors
AuthorAffiliation
Rasha AI-Qassemi is at the Central Food Control Laboratory, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
R.K. Robinson is at the School of Food Biosciences University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Subject: Honey; Glucose; Antioxidants; Nutrition; Food science;
Publication title: Nutrition and Food Science
Volume: 33
Issue: 6
Pages: 254-260
Number of pages: 7
Publication year: 2003
Publication date: 2003

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Year: 2003
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing, Limited
Place of publication: Bradford
Country of publication: United Kingdom
Publication subject: Nutrition And Dietetics
ISSN: 00346659
Source type: Scholarly Journals
Language of publication: English
Document type: Feature
Document feature: tables references
ProQuest document ID: 217624325
Document URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/217624325?accountid=25704
Copyright: Copyright MCB UP Limited (MCB) 2003
Last updated: 2014-05-19
Database: ProQuest Public Health,ProQuest Agriculture Journals

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