A comparative review on sweet honey and bitter honey

Abstract

Honey is a sugary secretion deposited in the honey comb by the bee, Apis dorsata and possibly other species of Apis, e.g. Apis indica, Apis florae, etc. usually contain a variety of nutritional and mineral substances. Honey is an ingredient in most of the Ayurvedic preparations due to its therapeutic use in the treatment of cancer, nervous disorder, and muscular weakness and to treat several infections. There are different types of honey available, in that, bitter honey has been shown that it contains bioactive compounds. Antinutritional qualitative and quantitative analysis of bitter honey shows the presence of flavonoids, saponin glycosides whereas steroids were detected only in sweet honey. Bitter honey obtained from strawberry tree has showed interesting antioxidant antiradical activities and protective effect against thermal cholesterol degradation. It also induces the growth inhibition of human cancer cells. The quality of honey is governed by FSSAI, AGMARK and various pharmacopoeias available for honey. But there is no standard monograph available for bitter honey also the demand for this natural product is increasing globally. So the review work is proposed for the further research in developing the standard monograph and pharmacognostical study for bitter honey.