High Fructose Corn Syrup Killing The Honeybees?

boloboffin

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I have no knowledge of the reliability of this information or not. But it seems to be breaking right now.

Heat forms potentially harmful substance in high-fructose corn syrup

Researchers have established the conditions that foster formation of potentially dangerous levels of a toxic substance in the high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) often fed to honey bees. Their study, which appears in the current issue of ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, could also help keep the substance out of soft drinks and dozens of other human foods that contain HFCS. The substance, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), forms mainly from heating fructose.

In the new study, Blaise LeBlanc and Gillian Eggleston and colleagues note HFCS's ubiquitous usage as a sweetener in beverages and processed foods. Some commercial beekeepers also feed it to bees to increase reproduction and honey production. When exposed to warm temperatures, HFCS can form HMF and kill honeybees. Some researchers believe that HMF may be a factor in Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that has killed at least one-third of the honeybee population in the United States.

The scientists measured levels of HMF in HFCS products from different manufacturers over a period of 35 days at different temperatures. As temperatures rose, levels of HMF increased steadily. Levels jumped dramatically at about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. "The data are important for commercial beekeepers, for manufacturers of HFCS, and for purposes of food storage. Because HFCS is incorporated as a sweetener in many processed foods, the data from this study are important for human health as well," the report states. It adds that studies have linked HMF to DNA damage in humans. In addition, HMF breaks down in the body to other substances potentially more harmful than HMF.
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So how does that compare to other high-fructose items? Like jellies, jams, or even, sakes alive, fruit?
 
The Straight Dope on the bee situation:

First and most important: There are some 20,000 species of bees in the world, and many thousands more types of pollinating insects. What you're hearing about, "colony collapse disorder," affects one species of bee – the European honey bee. That species happens to be the one global agriculture relies upon for about 30% of its pollination requirements. So while we're not talking about losing all the world's pollinators, we are talking about losing a significant fraction of them. That's the worst-case scenario, with the species wiped out completely.
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Link.
 
Um, colony collapse is a multipronged issue, one of the culprits according to May R. Berenbaum (it might effect the orientation of bees) may be Imidacloprid, beside the mites and other pathogens.
 
I read on the BBC that it might be a combination of viruses that all attack the same spot, destroying the bees' ability to make their own proteins at all.
 
From the article:

As time progressed, the bees consumed less syrup at all dosages (Figure 3B). In some of the cages where drinking water was supplied ad libitum and the water supply expired without being replenished, more syrup was consumed and the mortality increased dramatically. For instance, in a 250 ppm HMF cage replicate where the water became expired, all of the bees were dead within 2 weeks.
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I don't find this convincing at all. The bees were caged and demonstrated a general failure to thrive. Water was not replenished in some cases. Too many variables.

I believe that the virus theory hits closest to the mark. Suspected toxins, including the neonicotnoids (e.g., imidacloprid) have been tested and shown to not be the cause or at least the singular cause of CCD.
 
Actually good beekeeping is what the beekeepers are looking at as well, cleaning the frames and providing NEW wax for the bees, as well as 'clean queens'.

There is no single cause of colony collapse.
 
Slimething said:
From the article:



I don't find this convincing at all. The bees were caged and demonstrated a general failure to thrive. Water was not replenished in some cases. Too many variables.

.
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I was thinking that also. Do we know if bees need water to survive? If the water is taken away, so they eat more syrup, and the bees die, isn't that like causation from correlation? Maybe they just died of thirst?
 
Careyp74 said:
I was thinking that also. Do we know if bees need water to survive? If the water is taken away, so they eat more syrup, and the bees die, isn't that like causation from correlation? Maybe they just died of thirst?
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No. What they are trying to replicate is what happens when the bees are wintering. Normally the bee keeper would either make sure there is enough honey for the bees to survive the winter, or they would provide syrup. (Personally I always used sugar syrup made from cane sugar.) During this time the bees do not have access to water, because water would be frozen. They stay in the hive clustered together for warmth. On the occasional sunny day when the temperature gets high enough, they take turns briefly flying out to defecate (they would never do this in the hive under normal conditions) and then go back to the cluster.

Although this new idea sounds interesting, and we certainly should do what we can to help the bees, my understanding is that colony collapse disorder is very complex. I'd be surprised if only one cause were found; the research I've heard about so far indicates many sources for the problem.
 
What happens when we nuke something with fructose?

I just defrosted the orange juice concentrate in the microwave. Am I going to die? In addition to my fallen arches and sagging armpits, will I get colony collapse too?
 
Are there any hives of bee that are resistant to 'colony collapse'?

CC has been a problem for a decode? It hasn't killed ALL of the hives yet. So maybe some are genetically immune?
 
That is what the people who study it are saying. Sure there could be an unknown single cuase but when there are multiple known causes and multiple possible causes, it seems likely it is not a single cause.

What ever it is has also kicked wasps in the butt.
 
Dancing David said:
That is what the people who study it are saying. Sure there could be an unknown single cuase but when there are multiple known causes and multiple possible causes, it seems likely it is not a single cause.
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They'd change their tune pretty quick if any one of them stumbled upon a single, or at least a dominant, cause. Let's hope it doens't remain a mystery too much longer.
 
boloboffin said:
I have no knowledge of the reliability of this information or not. But it seems to be breaking right now.
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The study makes sense, but it's important to understand that substances react when you raise the temperature, and some of the byproducts will be toxins.

The type and quantity will vary with the substance and the temperature.

ie: heating up anything will produce trace toxins

(Just as a more familiar example: vegetable oil re-use from meal to meal for cooking produces increasing quantities of carcinogens)


A relevant question: is there some reason to believe that beekeepers are heating up their HFCS up to or beyond120F?

A second relevant question: are the alternative bee food sources safer if stored in the same conditions?

If not, then I don't see this finding bearing any relation to bees.
 
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