Amylase honey

The activity of a-, p-, and y-amylase is usually used as an important quality parameter of honey, according to the Directive 2001/110/CE (Voldrich et al, 2009). Amylase in honey mainly originates from the salivary secretions of honeybees, which was concluded based on fhe presence of amylase in honey produced by sugar-fed honeybees (Sfadelmeier and Bergner, 1986) and on similarities between honey and... 

The diastase activity was traditionally determined according to the Schade method in the earlier years (Schade et al., 1958). One unit of diastase activity (or more specifically, a-amylase), DN, is defined as that amoimt of enz)nne that converts 0.01 g of starch to the prescribed endpoint in 1 h at 37 °C under the experimental conditions. In this assay, a standard solution of starch, which reacts with iodine to produce a color solution, is used as a substrate for honey enzymes under the standard conditions (Rendleman, 2003). A recently developed procedure uses an insoluble, dyed starch substrate (Persano Oddo and Pulcini, 1999). As this substrate is hydrolyzed by ot-amylase, soluble dyed starch fragments are released into solution. After reaction termination and insoluble substrate removal by centrifugation, absorbance of the supernatant solution (at 620 nm) is measured. The absorbance is proportional to the diastase activity. This procedure has been widely adopted in the honey industry due to the convenience of a commercially available substrate and the simple assay format. 

Babacan, S. and Rand, A. G. (2007). Characterization of honey amylase. /. Food Sci. 72, C050-C055. 

Cereal flour, buckwheat flour, soy flour, seafood allergens, pork, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, lupin, spinach, sarsaparilla root dust, cocoa, coffee dusts, green tea, egg protein, lactalbumin, milk powder, casein, honey, a-amylase, glucoamylase, pectinase, gluconase, pepsin, pectin, spices, carmine, flavorings... 

The protein content of honey is usually around 0.2% (Anklam, 1998 Iurlina and Fritz, 2005). A small portion of this fraction consists of enzymes, notably invertase, diastase, amylase, glucose oxidase, catalase (Anklam, 1998), a-glucosidase, and p-glucosidase (Won et al., 2008). Some are derived from bees, whereas others come from the nectar. Enzyme activity varies among honey samples since the amount of bee saliva, the source of bee enzymes, found in honey varies with the conditions of honey production (Anklam, 1998). 

C12H22O11 342.299 An aq. soln. at 25° contains 64% p-pyr, 12% a-fur, 22.5% P-fur and 1.5% ketone. Isol. from honey, beer and from the products formed by the action of an a-amylase on liver glycogen. Originates partly by eprmerisation of maltose and partly by transglucosylation during the... 

The most prominent enzymes in honey are a-glucosidase(invertase or saccharase), a- and P-amylases (diastase), glucose oxidase, catalase and acid phosphatase. Average enzyme activities are presented in Table 19.14. Invertase and diastase activities, together with the hydroxymethyl furfural content, are of significance for assessing whether or not the honey was heated. 

Honey a- and -amylases (diastase) also originate from bees. Their pH optimum range... 

A method for the rapid determination of the a-amylase diastase in honey has been reported. ... 

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