Polyphenols in Brazilian organic honey and their scavenging capacity against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species

Honey is an easily accessible honey bee product, increasingly popular due to its biological activities and beneficial effects on human health. This study aimed to evaluate the capacity of samples of organic blossom honey and honeydew honey from southern Brazil exported to consumers worldwide to deactivate reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS), as well as to characterize their phenolic profile and the content of vitamin C. All the honey extracts analyzed displayed high content of phenolic compounds (49.79–117.68 mg gallic acid equivalents/g honey polyphenol extract) and high capacity to deactivate peroxyl radical (ROO•), hypochlorous acid (HOCl), and nitric oxide (NO•). Honeydew honeys exhibited up to 6 mg ascorbic acid per 100 g. Based on the phenolic profile as well as on ROS and RNS scavenging, all the organic honeys analyzed were grouped using multivariate analysis. Therefore, the analyzed eight organic honeys produced in southern Brazil can be considered as good sources of bioactive phenolic compounds.