All honeys are sweet but all honeys are not the same. Some contain greatly enhanced levels of illness-fighting agents, a difference dependent on where the bees gathered their nectar, according to scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They analysed 19 samples of honey from 14 floral sources and found that bees retrieving nectar from Illinois buckwheat flowers contained 20 times the levels of antioxidants contained in honey made from California sage nectar. Clover, one of the most common plant sources used by honey bees, ranks midway between these two. Antioxidants counter the action of substances in the body known as free radicals which cause damage and promote illnesses such as arthritis and cancer. In an article to be published in the Journal of Apicultural Research, the researchers s ay that darker honey has less water and more antioxidants than lightcoloured honey. Floral source dictates colour, water composition, sugar levels, ash, nitrogen and metal content, they add.