Anti-nutritional Composition of Honey Samples from Four Northern States of Nigeria

Abstract

Honey is sought globally for nutritional and therapeutic purposes because of the several chemical constituents that are abound in it. Some of these chemicals such as the anti-nutrients are defensive metabolic byproducts of plants from which bees obtained the nectars for honey production. This study was undertaken to determine the cyanide, oxalate, phytate, tannin and saponin compositions of honey samples from four North Central States of Nigeria. Anti-nutrients were analyzed following the Standards of Association of Official Analytical Chemists protocol for anti-nutrient compositions. Data obtained were compared using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the means were separated using Fischer’s Least Significance Difference (LSD). The results showed that cyanide, phytate and tannin were present in all the four honey samples while oxalate and saponin were only present in two of the honey samples, though at varying concentrations each of them. All anti-nutrient except cyanide are within tolerable limit for human consumption. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in each of the anti-nutrient’s concentrations across the honey samples. The study showed that location and geographical region significantly influence honey’s anti-nutrient compositions as well as their concentrations.

Keywords: Honey, Anti-nutrients, Tannin, Saponin, Cyanide, Oxalate, Phytate.