Comparison of functional and bioactive properties of pine honey with other important honeys produced in our country

Honey possess high nutritional value resulting from its chemical composition. Honey includes phenolic compounds as phenolic acids and flavonoids that exhibit wide range of biological effects and act as natural antioxidants. There are only a few studies carried out on the phenolic compound profile of different Turkish honeys with less sample numbers and less phenolic compounds. In this study, the bioactivity (total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity and phenolic component profiles) of many merchantable honey types from different origins produced in different regions of our country were compared. Within the scope of this thesis; honeys from five different origins were provided, including pine (Pinus pinea and/or Pinus brutia), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), cotton (Gossypium hirsitum), citrus (Citrus sp.) and polyfloral. The honey samples were collected directly from beekeepers between May 2017 and November 2017. Sample were provided from the cities given here; pine honey samples from Muğla, sunflower honey samples from Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ, cotton honey samples from Manisa and Şanlıurfa, citrus honey samples from Adana and polyflora honey samples from Bingöl, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Hakkari, Kayseri, Malatya and Mardin. The mean levels of total phenolic contents of the pine, sunflower, cotton, citrus and polyfloral honey samples were determined as 65.8, 38.7, 30.7, 25.8 and 40.3, mg GAE/kg in, respectively. The mean levels of antiradical activities (with DPPH scavenging method) for the same honeys were determined as 68.2%, 49.2%, 33.5%, 16.8% and 54.7%, respectively. Bioactivities and phenolic compound profiles of the honey samples greatly changed as depending on their botanical origin. It was shown that honey botanical origins could be distinguished using phenolic compound profile analysis. It has been determined that each type of honeys were statistically significantly different from other honeys, for pine honeys in terms of protocatechuic acid, syringic acid and taxifolin, for sunflower honeys in terms of 3-4 Dimethoxy Cinnamic Acid, Naringenin and Quercetin, for citrus honeys in terms of chlorogenic acid, and for polyfloral honeys in terms of high amount of gallic acid. When the results obtained in this study are interpreted together, it has been determined that the pine honeys produced in our country are superior to other honey types in terms of bioactivity.