Combined antioxidant capacity of Chilean bee hive products using mixture design methodology

In this work, the individual and combined antioxidant capacities of three polyphenolic extracts from the Chilean bee industry (multifloral bee pollen, Quillay honey, and Ulmo honey) were evaluated using a mixture design method. The polyphenolic content, flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity of the singular, binary, and ternary extract mixtures were determined. The results indicate that there is a correlation between the contents of phenols and total flavonoids and the radical scavenging capacity. When combining the extracts, both synergistic, additive and antagonistic effects were observed, depending on the assay method, which reflects the predominant mechanism through which antioxidation occurs. Synergy was found by combining extracts of Quillay and Ulmo honeys according to the FRAP test and for a combination of the extracts from multifloral bee pollen and Quillay honey according to the DPPH test. Since blend I₁–I₃ present high antioxidant capacity, it can be seen that the concentration of total polyphenols does not necessarily reflect the total antioxidant capacity of the mixtures. This exploratory methodology has proven to be useful to identify mixtures of honey and bee pollen extracts than can serve as antioxidant blends in the food industry and could be useful to design new functional food ingredients.