Chemical composition and biological properties of aromatic compounds in honey: An overview

The aromatic volatile organic compounds present in honey is important since they contribute toward organoleptic characteristics, identity, and quality of honey. A good number of scientific data and information from some literatures corroborate bioactivity with toxicity of volatile organic compounds present in honey. Nevertheless, systematic scientific study of honey aromatic compounds is an overlooked issue unlike investigation on other bioactive compounds of honey. Reports on comprehensive profiling of honey aromatic compound, bioactivity screening, toxicological evaluation, medicinal values for a particular disease condition as well as database development could be some of the future research scope with honey aromatic compounds. In this article, reports on aromatic compound in honey and their implications in terms of physiochemical characteristics, origin tracking, quality, physiological, and toxicological effects are compiled. It is hoped that this article exhort the scientific community to conduct more rational scientific studies on honey aromatic compounds which is not well‐explored in depth. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Honey containing active compounds like volatile aromatic compounds contributes to the aroma profile of honey whereas the composition and quality of honey depends appreciably with their botanical and geographical derivation. It is evident that differential properties were found in honey from different origin varying aromatic compound composition. As a result, priority can be given in making inquiries to the aromatic compound in the context of contemporary medicinal research of honey. In addition, aromatic honey possesses both the health reimbursements and unwanted toxicological effects. Although, it is reported that as a novel food honey exerts some stunning biological effects, its constituents may undergo various notorious metabolic conversion that would be life threatening.