## 2 Results and Discussion
### Antioxidant Activity  
Several pathophysiology caused by oxidation and free radicals including inflammatory, degenerative, cancerous, obesity, dementia and chronic diseases like diabetes [30; 31; 32; 33]. While natural antioxidants usually impede the process of oxidation by interaction with free radicals [21; 30; 31; 32; 33], but it might not be the case for honey since it contains mixture of compounds which possess various mechanism of actions. For such a reason, it is difficult to estimate antioxidant capability of honey by one assay, and hence, multiple antioxidant experiments are required to obtain more accurate data from different angles [34]. The antioxidant potential of the MH sample was assessed in this research using free radical scavenging (DPPH, ABTS) and beta-carotene bleaching antioxidant tests (Table 2). MH sample showed considerable radical scavenging properties (DPPH IC\({}_{50}\): 7.36 mg/mL; ABTS IC\({}_{50}\): 4.49 mg/mL) and a moderate beta-carotene bleaching potential (IC\({}_{50}\): 37.51 mg/mL). Different chemical components are responsible for this potent antioxidant activity. Each one of the performed assays investigates different mechanisms of antioxidant activities (ABTS and/or DPPH compared to bleaching assay) which were achieved due to phytochemicalal compounds present in the tested MH confirming that MH possesses higher radical scavenging properties than bleaching properties. Collectively, the obtained data from the antioxidants experiments in this study are in concordance with preceding studies that presented a robust positive relationship between the bioactive phytochemicalal compounds and their antioxidant affect [35; 36]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**No.**} & **Retention** & **Area (\%)** & **Tentative Compounds Identification** \\ \hline
19 & 5.056 & 0.88 & 3H-Pyrazol-3-one, 2,4-dihydro-5-methyl- \\ \hline
20 & 11.82 & 0.87 & Butyl dimethyl phosphorothioate \\ \hline
21 & 12.906 & 0.77 & 1,4-Methanonapththalene, 6,7-diethyldecahydro-, c \\ \hline
22 & 10.926 & 0.72 & p-Menthan-3-one, semicarbazone \\ \hline
23 & 13.074 & 0.51 & 4,5-Imidazoledimenthanol \\ \hline
24 & 2.971 & 0.42 & S-Methyl-L-cysteine, N-(n-propyloxycarbonyl) \\ \hline
25 & 1.64 & 0.39 & Oxurane, (fluoromethyl)- \\ \hline
26 & 5.323 & 0.37 & 2-Furanmethanol, 5-methyl- \\ \hline
27 & 16.921 & 0.33 & Cirisumaldehyde \\ \hline
28 & 16.528 & 0.32 & Succinic acid, dodec-9-yn-1-yl pentyl ester \\ \hline
29 & 9.221 & 0.3 & 2-Aminoresorcinol \\ \hline
30 & 6.865 & 0.27 & 2H-Pyran-2-one, 5,6-dihydro- \\ \hline
31 & 9.975 & 0.26 & (6R,7 aR)-3,6-Dimethyl-5,6,7,7a-tetrahydrobenz \\ \hline
32 & 14.848 & 0.26 & Hexadecanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxmeth \\ \hline
33 & 16.294 & 0.25 & Octadecanoic acid, 2,3-dihydroxypropyl ester \\ \hline
34 & 15.414 & 0.22 & 2-Furaldehydeazine \\ \hline
35 & 2.438 & 0.21 & 2,3-Dimethylpentanoic acid \\ \hline
36 & 14.318 & 0.17 & (8S)-Eremophila-7(11)-en-12,8-lactam \\ \hline
37 & 10.949 & 0.08 & 1,7-Dimethylxanthine \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: _Cont._ \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Antioxidant Assays**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**IC\({}_{50}\) Values**} \\ \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Radical Scavenging activity} & DPPH & 7.36 \(\pm\) 0.03 \\  & ABTS & 4.49 \(\pm\) 0.1 \\ \multirow{2}{*}{Bleaching assay} & Beta-carotene & 37.51 \(\pm\) 0.64 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Antioxidant activity of tested manuka honey. Honeys are considered as strong antioxidant agents that can protect cell and its components against the destructive effects of various stressful factors by acting as modulator of free radicals [37, 38]. MH contains a high number of identified and yet to be elucidated phenolic compounds [39, 40]. These phenols effectively reduce the existence and number of free radicals, thus provide a fitting antioxidant capacity [41, 42].