*3.3. Sugar Content of Honey*

The HPLC analysis revealed the percentage of sugar (fructose, glucose, and sucrose) detected in the tested local honey (Figure 1A) and imported honey samples (Figure 1B). The sequence pattern of sugar content was similar in local and imported honey samples, being within the permitted quality range (fructose: 31–42%, glucose: 23–32%, sucrose: ≤5%). The level of reducing sugar (fructose + glucose) was also within the permitted quality standard (≥60%) in both local and imported honey (Figure 1A,B).

**Figure 1.** HPLC-based sugar profile of local honey and imported honey. (**A**) Local honey: ACS1–7 (*Acacia gerardii* honey from seven locations), SDS1–7 (Sidr, *Ziziphus* sp. honey from seven locations), ALS (alfalfa honey), SES (*Vachellia seyal* honey), SMS (*Acacia tortilis* honey), and SHS (Shafallah–caper bush honey, *Capparis spinose*). (**B**) Imported honey: SMF (multifloral honey, Spain), IMF (multifloral honey, India), PAS1–6 (honey imported from different countries but packed in KSA), MKN1–2 (manuka honey, New Zealand), BFG (black forest honey, Germany), CMF (multifloral honey, China), CSD (Sidr, *Ziziphus* sp. honey, China), PAG (*Robinia pseudoacacia* black locust honey, Germany), SWMF (multifloral honey, Switzerland), BMF (multifloral honey, United Kingdom), FMF (multifloral honey, France), AMF (multifloral honey, Australia), CTE (citrus honey, Egypt), and KSD (Sidr, *Ziziphus* sp. Pakistan).

The sugar content (fructose, glucose, sucrose, and reducing sugars) indicated significant differences within the individual type of local (Table 6) and imported honey (Table 7). Fructose and glucose were the two main carbohydrates that were detected in all the analyzed local and imported honey samples. Fructose percentage was relatively higher than that of glucose in local honey (Table 6) and imported honey, with an exception of two imported honey samples (PAS2 and CSD) that indicated a higher glucose percentage than that of fructose (Table 7).


**Table 6.** Analysis of sugar content (%) present in local honey samples.

Means with the same letters are not significantly different from each other (*p* < 0.05, Tukey's test). Codex Alimentarius Standard (fructose: 31–42%, glucose: 23–32%, sucrose: ≤5%, reducing sugar: ≥60%) [9,10].


**Table 7.** Analysis of sugar content (%) present in imported honey samples.

Means with the same letters are not significantly different from each other (*p* < 0.05, Tukey's test). Codex Alimentarius Standard (fructose: 31–42%, glucose: 23–32%, sucrose: ≤5%, reducing sugar: ≥60%) [9,10].

In local honey (Table 6), the range of sugar content was 33 ± 0.0 to 46.0 ± 0.0% (mean: 39.7 ± 0.6%) for fructose, 24.9 ± 0.1 to 36.6 ± 0.0% (mean: 31.5 ± 0.7%) for glucose, 0.1 ± 0.0

to 13.3 ± 0.3% (mean: 2.8 ± 0.9%) for sucrose, and 58 ± 0.1 to 82 ± 0.2% (mean: 71.2 ± 1.3%) for reducing sugars. Four local honey samples (SDS4, SDS5, SDS6, and SDS7) showed sucrose contents that exceeded the permitted limits (≤5%) of International Codex and GSO standards [9,10].

In imported honey (Table 7), the range of sugar content was 4.0 ± 0.0 to 48.6 ± 0.1% (mean: 39.2 ± 2.3%) for fructose, 23.6 ± 0.0% to 37.8 ± 0.2 (mean: 31.8 ± 0.8%) for glucose, 0.0 ± 0.0% to 3.0 ± 0.0% (mean: 0.7 ± 0.2%) for sucrose, and 28 ± 0.0 to 84 ± 0.0% (mean: 72.0 ± 2.8%) for reducing sugars. All sugar contents were within the permitted limits (fructose, glucose, sucrose, and reducing sugar: 31–42%, 23–32%, ≤5%, and ≥60%, respectively) of the International Codex and GSO standard [9,10]. One local honey (SDS4: 58 ± 0.1%) (Table 6) and one imported honey (PAS2: 28 ± 0.0%) (Table 7) possessed lower percentages of reducing sugar than the permitted range (≥60%).

Table 8 revealed the mean values of various sugar contents in local and imported honey. Only the percentage of sucrose was significantly different among local (2.8%) and imported honey (0.7%). The contents of fructose, glucose, and reducing sugar were similar in both local and imported honey. The mean percentages of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and reducing sugar of the local and imported honey were within the permitted limits (fructose: 31–42%, glucose: 23–32%, sucrose: ≤5%, reducing sugar: ≥60%) of the International Codex and GSO standard [9,10].

**Table 8.** Comparison among sugar contents of local and imported honey in Saudi Arabia.


Asterisk represents a significant difference between local and imported honey for each single attribute (*p* < 0.05, *t*-test). The mean percentages of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and reducing sugar of local and imported honey were within the permitted limits (fructose: 31–42%, glucose: 23–32%, sucrose: ≤5%, reducing sugar: ≥60%) of the International Codex Alimentarius and GSO standard [9,10].
