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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.

Sec. Nutrition and Food Science Technology

Comparative Nutritional and Antioxidant Profiling of Assam Honeys: Unveiling the Untapped Bioactivity of Stingless Bee Honey

Provisionally accepted
Partha Pratim Gyanudoy DasPartha Pratim Gyanudoy Das1*Mukul Kumar DekaMukul Kumar Deka1Abhibandana DasAbhibandana Das1Rituraj BorahRituraj Borah2Mousumi BharaliMousumi Bharali1Shimantini BorkatakiShimantini Borkataki1Pradeep KumarPradeep Kumar3R. KarthikR. Karthik4Titikshya KashyapTitikshya Kashyap1Kereyagalahalli Mallaiah KumaranagKereyagalahalli Mallaiah Kumaranag5Sachin Suresh SurosheSachin Suresh Suroshe5
  • 1Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India
  • 2North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, India
  • 3University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India
  • 4Central Potato Research Institute, Jalandhar, India
  • 5Indian Agricultural Research Institute Division of Entomology, New Delhi, India

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Honey is a nutritionally rich natural product with functional and bioactive relevance, yet species-specific comparative data from Northeast India remain limited. This study evaluated the physicochemical composition, mineral profiles, antioxidant, and antimicrobial potential of Apis cerana, A. mellifera, A. dorsata, and Tetragonula iridipennis honeys from Assam, with special emphasis on the bioactivity of stingless bee honey (T. iridipennis). Significant interspecific variation was observed: T. iridipennis honey exhibited elevated diastase activity (19.63 DN), proline (1286 mg/kg), and mineral richness, along with the highest total phenolic (84.24 mg GAE/100 g) and flavonoid (21.20 mg QE/100 g) content. These biochemical traits corresponded to superior antioxidant capacity, with the lowest EC₅₀ values in DPPH (51.55 µl/ml) and ABTS (47.23 µl/ml) assays, and the broadest antibacterial spectrum, inhibiting Salmonella Typhi, Shigella flexneri, Streptococcus pyogenes, and S. mutans. In-vitro cytotoxicity assays further demonstrated notable inhibitory effects of T. iridipennis honey on cell viability, consistent with its high antioxidant potential. This study provides the first comprehensive biochemical baseline for Assam honeys and highlights stingless bee honey as a promising candidate for sustainable functional food development and bioactive compound exploration.

Keywords: Stingless bee honey, physicochemical properties, DPPH, ABTS assay, Antimicrobial efficacy, northeast India

Received: 01 Nov 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Das, Deka, Das, Borah, Bharali, Borkataki, Kumar, Karthik, Kashyap, Kumaranag and Suroshe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Partha Pratim Gyanudoy Das

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material