Multi-elemental composition and physical properties of honey samples from Malaysia

Abstract

The elemental profiles of six honey samples from Malaysia had been constructed using the data obtained from both ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Potassium and sodium were the most abundant minerals covering from 69.3-78.6% and 14.1-28.7%, respectively. The ratio of potassium to sodium was more than one. Even though the minerals and trace elements composition varied dependent on the type of honey samples, there was no statistically significant difference between the analysed honey samples, namely tualang, gelam, acacia and a few forest honeys based on two-factor ANOVA and cluster analysis. The total element content of honey samples were strongly correlated with the electrical conductivity, but only have moderate correlation with the ash content and honey colour based on the regression analysis. PCA result on the available elemental data from worldwide honeys, including honey samples from Malaysia revealed that potassium and sodium were the mineral markers to distinguish honey origin. Both tualang and gelam honey samples from Malaysia have close mineral profile with sesame honeys from Egypt and multifloral honeys from India, whereas forest honeys Malaysia were near to avocado honeys from Spain and multifloral honeys from India.