Caracterização de méis brasileiros: físico-química, perfil de substâncias polares, atividade antioxidante e quimiometria

Abstract

Honey is generally known for its therapeutic value and the determination of its main floral source allows the certification to the consumer the properties related to its origin. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the quality and characterize eleven honeys from Apis mellifera from the state of Rio de Janeiro according to physico-chemical parameters, to phenolics profile, to the antioxidant activity and also through the use of chemonetric analysis applied to 1H NMR data and HPLC-DAD. Two samples of assa peixe, six samples of cambara and three samples of morrão-de-candeia honeys from diferente regions of Rio de Janeiro were analyzed. The physico-chemical parameters determined were: HMF content and color through a spectrophotometric method, free acidity and pH. The content of free amminoacids was also determined through the cádmium-ninhydrine together with total proteins via the Bradford method. The antioxidant ability of honeys and their extracts was qualitatively determined through the total phenolics content using the Folin-Denis method. Total flavonoids were determined by the complexation method with aluminium chloride. The quantitative antioxidant activity of honeys was determined by the trapping of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical, by trapping of the ABTS.+ radical and also by the iron reduction method (FRAP). The identification and quantitation of polyphenols in the extracts were done by HPLC-PDA. The use of multivariate analysis for the 1H NMR data and HPLC enabled the distinction of the honeys analyzed in this work. Thus, the use of 1H NMR and HPLC data combined with multivariate analysis may be employed as a new strategy for the fast and non-destructive typification of Brazilian honeys.