Traditional Portuguese Honey-Based Product has Antimicrobial, Antiviral and Antioxidant Properties

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Antimicrobial, Antiviral and Antioxidant Activities of"água-mel" from Portugal
Food Chem Toxicol, 2013 Feb 16. pii: S0278-6915(13)00115-4"�gua-mel" is a honey-based product produced inPortugal for ancient times. Several attributes have been reported to"água-mel" particularly in the alleviation of simple symptoms ofupper respiratory tract. Samples of "água-mel" from diverse beekeepers fromdifferent regions of Portugal were studied in what concerns antimicrobial,antioxidant and antiviral properties. The amounts of phenol and brown pigmentwere also evaluated and correlated with the antioxidant activities. A greatvariability on the levels of these compounds was found among samples which wereresponsible for the variability detected also on the antioxidant activities,independent on the method used. Generally, antioxidant activity correlated better with brownpigments' amount than with phenols' content. The antimicrobial activity foundfor "água-mel" samples confirm the virtues reported by popularfindings. In addition, this work also reveals the antiviral properties of"água-mel" evidenced by a decrease on the infectivity of the Qβbacteriophage.