In ancient times honey has been used for the treatment of a variety of illnesses such as gastric disturbances, ulcers, wounds and burns [1]. For these treatments honey has either been ingested or topically applied. Honey is reported to have antiseptic properties hence also used for fighting infections in wounds [2]. There are several reported mechanisms by which honey has antibacterial action namely, bee defensing-1, methylglyoxal (MGO), H₂O₂, osmotic effect and pH [3].

Honey is also reported to have antioxidants which reduce the damage done to the colon in colitis [4] and antioxidants play a big role in prevention of cancer and heart disease. Darker the honey more is the level of antioxidants. Based on color shades, there are three distinct types of honey, light, amber and dark. Honey has also been reported to increase the counts of probiotics namely bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in the colon [5].

Lactobacillus acidophilus is probiotic (good helpful) bacterium with several health advantages. The health benefits of Lactobacillus acidophilus are as follows, assists in lowering cholesterol, reduces occurrence of diarrhea in humans (children and adults), provides immune support for infections or cancer, provides a healthy replacement of good bacteria in the intestinal tract following antibiotic therapy, improves the symptoms of lactose intolerance which is very important in dairy product consumption [6]. Antitumor effect of L. acidophilus was reported earlier [7]. Oral dietary supplements containing viable cells of L. acidophilus decreased azoreductase, β- glucuronidase, and nitroreductase, bacterial enzymes which catalyze conversion of procarcinogens to carcinogens. Anticarcinogenic effect of L. acidophilus may be due to direct removal of procarcinogens and activation of the body’s immune system. Dietary supplementation with L. acidophilus decreases the number of colon cancer cells in rats in a dose dependent manner [8].

Ice cream is a very popular dairy dessert which is typically sweetened by sugar. If honey is used as a sweetening source in the manufacture of a probiotic ice cream, it is not known what effect honey would have on the characteristics of a healthier probiotic ice cream. The objective was to study the effect of light, amber colored and dark honey on the Lactobacillus acidophilus counts and quality attributes of probiotic ice cream.

Counts of Lactobacillus acidophilus as influenced by the different types of honey are shown in Figure 1. The L. acidophilus counts of ice creams with honey were significantly higher than the control. The L. acidophilus counts with the honey were at least 10⁷ cfu/mL which is desirable for a probiotic to have the probiotic effect upon ingestion. The L. acidophilus counts with Amber and Dark honey were significantly higher than the Light honey. Honey is supposed to have an antimicrobial property because of its osmotic effect [13] as honey has low water activity. As regards to the composition of fluid milk, fluid milk has 87% water. This water contained in fluid milk used in ice cream manufacture may have resulted in the loss of the low water activity of honey hence no longer behaving as an antimicrobial, allowing L. acidophilus to grow.

The pH of ice cream mixes as influenced by the different types of honey are shown in Figure 2.

The control had significantly the highest pH. Among the ice creams with honey, use of light honey resulted in significantly higher pH compared to dark honey. Honey usually has a pH between 3.2 - 4.5 [14] while fluid milk used to make ice cream had a pH of 6.8. Since there was no honey in the control to lower its pH, the pH of the control was higher compared to the treatments. Also, low pH of honey is one of the factors for controlling microbial growth. Since the pH of the ice cream mixes were not as low as pure honey, it did not negatively influence the L. acidophilus counts keeping them in the desirable 10⁷ cfu’s/mL (Figure 1).

Meltdown volumes in one hour of the various ice creams are shown in Figure 3. The ice creams with honey had significantly lower meltdown than the control. There were no significant differences in melt down among the light, amber or dark honey ice creams. Use of honey slowed the rate of meltdown which is desirable as consumers would not want their ice creams to melt rapidly.

Apparent viscosity values are shown in Figure 4. The control had significantly lower apparent viscosity compared to the ice creams with honey. Among the ice creams with honey there were no differences in apparent viscosity. Use of honey as a sweetener significantly increased the viscosity of the ice cream mixes. Honey is a viscous product and it imparted that viscosity to the ice cream mixes.

Flavor scores of ice creams made with different types of honey are shown in Figure 5. There were no differences in flavor of the control and the ice creams made using light and amber honey. While the ice cream made using the dark honey had significantly lower flavor scores perhaps because the dark honey had the strongest flavor compared to the other honies.

Appearance scores are shown in Figure 6. There were no differences in appearance among the control and the ice creams made with light honey. There were significantly lower scores with the use of Amber colored honey, while the use of the dark honey resulted in significantly the least scores. The dark color of the dark honey came through in the white vanilla ice cream making the vanilla ice creams off white, slightly greyish, which lowered the appearance scores.

Use of honey increased Lactobacillus acidophilus counts and viscosity, while decreased pH and melt down volume. Light honey ice cream had flavor and appearance scores comparable to the control vanilla ice cream. Light honey can be recommended for the manufacturing Lactobacil-

lus acidophilus probiotic ice creams thus having a frozen dessert with the health advantageous medicinal properties of honey.