Antioxidant and antibacterial characteristics of phenolic extracts of locally produced honey in Saudi Arabia.

The antibacterial and antioxidant properties of 30 selected honey samples produced in Saudi Arabia have been studied. The inhibitory action of the total phenolic content of the honey samples has been tested against Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus and Escherichia coli. The MIC values of the ten selected honey samples against S. aureus, M. luteus and E. coli were in the range 0.5 ± 0.2 - 3.6 ± 0.3; 0.45 ± 0.05 - 5.0 ± 0.6 and 0.6 ± 0.2 - 4.4 ± 0.4 mg mL(- 1). The antioxidant activities of the ethyl acetate extracts based on their anti-radical power using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl scavenging assay and their ferric reducing antioxidant power were in the ranges 50.78 ± 1.4% to 99.52 ± 0.2% and 0.85 ± 0.13 to 1.167 ± 0.13 mg/ml, respectively. The total phenolic content was in the range 84.97 ± 0.57 to 317.39 ± 0.76 mg/100 g.