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Abstract
Health benefits including antioxidant potential of black tea (Camellia sinensis), lemon (Citrus limon) and honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been extensively reported. Nevertheless, nothing is reported about the effects of their concomitant use. Herein, those effects were evaluated in infusions of lemon-flavoured black tea with three different kinds of honey (light amber, amber and dark amber) from Lavandula stoechas, Erica sp. pl. and other indigenous floral species from north-east Portugal, a region with high amounts of this food product. Data obtained showed that the use of honey (dark amber>amber>light amber) potentiates the antioxidant activity of lemon-flavoured black tea, increasing the reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition properties, as also the antioxidant contents such as phenolics, flavonoids and organic acids including ascorbic acid.
Declaration of interest The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to the research centre CIMO (Strategic Project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011). L. Barros also thanks to FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE for her Grant (SFRH/BPD/4609/2008). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.