Comparison Study of Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activity between Dates and Manuka Honeys

Honey is long known having beneficial health benefits both internal and external of the human body. The current study was carried out to detect the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Manuka and Date honey. The antioxidant activity was detected using DPPH assay to show the reduced free radical cells effect by honey samples, while antibacterial activity of honey samples against Staphylococcus aureus pathogenic bacteria was detected using Microtiter plate assay. The results varied with the highest antioxidant activity related to the concentration of 2000 ppm with 37.37 ± 2.66 % by Date honey, while 2000 ppm of Manuka Honey had the lowest antioxidant activity with 3.38 ± 18.78 %. Antibacterial activity results were also diverse, the highest was from Manuka honey with concentration of 20 % with 77.44 ± 6.72 % after 48h time of incubation. In addition, the lowest inhibition activity against Staphylococcus aureus was related to Date honey with concentration of 20 % with 18.17 ± 23.00 % after 12h incubation time. Staphylococcus aureus was resistant to 20 % Date honey after the 1st 6h of incubation time. This study concluded that both Manuka and Date honey have antioxidant and antibacterial activity, which was related to the source of honey, its content and concentrations of diluted honey samples. Overall, date honey is more effective than Manuka honey as an antioxidant, while Manuka honey has a higher antibacterial activity than date honey.