Eucalyptus honey: Quality parameters, chemical composition and health-promoting properties

Otilia Bobis; Adela Ramona Moise; Isabel Ballesteros; Estefanía Sánchez Reyes; Silvia Sánchez Durán; José Sánchez-Sánchez; Sandra Cruz-Quintana; Francesca Giampieri; Maurizio Battino; José M Alvarez-Suarez

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126870

Eucalyptus honey: Quality parameters, chemical composition and health-promoting properties

Food Chem. 2020 Apr 28:325:126870. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126870. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Life Science Institute, Apiculture and Sericulture Department, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas. Grupo de Investigación en Biotecnología Aplicada a Biomedicina (BIOMED), Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
³ Hispano-Luso Institute for Agricultural Research (CIALE), University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Catholic University of Ávila (UCAVILA), Ávila, Spain.
⁴ Hispano-Luso Institute for Agricultural Research (CIALE), University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
⁵ Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica de Ambato, Tungurahua, Ecuador.
⁶ Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Specialistiche ed Odontostomatologiche (DISCO)-Sez, Biochimica, Facoltà di Medicina, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; Northwest University, Shaanxi, China; Nutrition and Food Science Group, Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, CITACA, CACTI, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain.
⁷ Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Specialistiche ed Odontostomatologiche (DISCO)-Sez, Biochimica, Facoltà di Medicina, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; Nutrition and Food Science Group, Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, CITACA, CACTI, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain; International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
⁸ Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas. Grupo de Investigación en Biotecnología Aplicada a Biomedicina (BIOMED), Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador; King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: jose.alvarez@udla.edu.ec.

PMID: 32387927
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126870

Abstract

Eucalyptus honey is an important unifloral honey commercialized worldwide and much desired by consumers due to the medicinal properties attributed to it because of the plant from which it is produced. In general, eucalyptus honey has been classified as being rich in pollen grains from the eucalyptus tree as well as having physicochemical characteristics that, in a way, have made it stand out from other honeys. Similar to other types of honey, eucalyptus honey can suffer contaminations and adulterations that compromise its quality, safety and authenticity. Thus, detailed knowledge of the composition and properties of this monofloral honeys is of great importance. With this background, the aim of this review is to present and discuss recent data regarding the physicochemical characteristics, chemical and health-promoting properties of eucalyptus honey as well as microbial contamination, authenticity, processing and adulteration.

Keywords: Adulteration; Antioxidant activity; Authenticity; Bioactive compounds; Contamination; Eucalyptus honey; Phenolic compounds; Volatile compounds.

Publication types

Review