Abstract:Manuka honey is a medical grade honey from New Zealand, and has unique non-peroxide antibacterial activity. The antibacterial activity of manuka honey is closely related to its characteristic marker substances. With the increase of the number of in-depth studies on the antibacterial substances in manuka honey by foreign scholars, more and more antimicrobial substances have been found and confirmed in manuka honey. The characteristic markers of manuka honey that have been found so far include methylglyoxal, leptosperin, 3-phenyllactic acid, 2'-methoxyacetophenone, 2-methoxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid, lepteridine, etc. These compounds have also been used in quality evaluation and authenticity identification for manuka honey. Manuka honey accounts for an increasing proportion of imported honey into China, but the domestic study on manuka honey started relatively late. In order to offer a reference for quality evaluation and authenticity identification of manuka honey, this paper provides an overview of the marker substances characteristic for manuka honey and relevant to the quality evaluation and authenticity identification, together with their analysis methods.
