Phenolic composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Berberis honey from Tibet, China

Abstract Tibetan Berberis honey (BH) represents an underexplored natural raw material with promising development value for functional food applications. The present work characterized the phenolic fingerprint of BH and systematically compared its antioxidant and antimicrobial performance with commercial Manuka honey (MH). After phenolic fraction enrichment using XAD-2 macroporous resin, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was employed to perform metabolomic characterization. The antimicrobial activity was assessed using the broth microdilution and agar diffusion methods. The phenolic extract obtained from BH possessed markedly elevated total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), alongside superior antioxidant capacity in comparison with MH ( P < 0.001). Untargeted metabolomics identified 1,028 metabolites in BH, with phenolic acids (20.62%) and alkaloids (19.16%) as the predominant classes. Targeted metabolomics quantified 104 phenolic compounds, with syringic acid, kaempferol, and protocatechuic acid as the major components. Furthermore, BH demonstrated stronger antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and Staphylococcus aureus , yet exhibited weaker activity against Escherichia coli compared with MH. The hydrogen peroxide content of BH was 227.16 ± 8.27 µmol/kg, considerably exceeding the value of MH (109.69 ± 8.26 µmol/kg) ( P < 0.0001), and this constitutes a key basis for its stronger antibacterial activity. Neither honey exhibited inhibitory activity against Candida albicans . Collectively, BH possesses a unique phenolic and alkaloid profile and shows superior selective antibacterial activity against certain pathogens over MH, underscoring its potential as a natural functional food with dual antioxidant and antibacterial properties.