Physicochemical properties, sensory acceptance and glycaemic index of processed stingless bee honey and processed honeybee honey

Abstract

One of the major factors in chronic disease is excessive sugar consumption and high glycaemic index (GI) food intake. The present study was carried out to compare the GI and glycaemic load (GL) of processed stingless bee honey (P-SBH) and processed honeybee honey (P-HBH) in addition to their physicochemical properties. The physicochemical were determined following the International Honey Commission standard procedures. For the GI and GL determination, 10 subjects were given honey containing 25 g of available carbohydrate in 250 mL of water. The blood glucose responses were based on incremental area under the curve, IAUC, and compared to that of 25 g available carbohydrate from pure glucose. The findings revealed that P-HBH had higher total sugars (g/100 g) content (89.18) than P-SBH (62.38). In terms of sensory acceptance, P-SBH is more preferred as the overall scores (4.6±0.8 vs 2.5±0.7), sweetness (4.2±1.0 vs 2.2±0.6), colour (5.6±0.5 vs 1.8±0.4) and odour (5.1±0.3 vs 2.0± 0.0) were significantly higher than P-HBH (p<0.05). However, the aftertaste of P-HBH was more apparent (1.1±0.4) than that of P-SBH (4.2±0.4). The results showed a significant difference (p<0.05) in GI between P-SBH (91±42) and P-HBH (67±23). While in terms of GL, no significant difference was documented (p>0.05) and both processed honey can be classified as low GL foods. In conclusion, this study showed that higher total sugar content in P-HBH does not affect the GI and can be consumed in moderate amounts following the suggested carbohydrate allowance.