Colony Collapse Disorder

[Billy]

Latest Scientific American, April '09, article (Saving the Honey Bee, pg. 40) claims the a virus, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), and some mitigating factors like poor nutrition, and exposure to pesticides are responsible for CCD.

[phorbin]

The mitigating factors sound like primary causes to me.

Are they claiming it for a fact, probability or possibility?

[Billy]

Nutrition, by itself, as well as pesticids by themselves, were ruled out as a cause of CCD. Samples of bees were tossed into a VERY high tech blender and the resulting DNA was sequenced to see what was inside the bees, besides the bees. They found 8 bacteria that had been identified in previous studies, 2 nosema species (?), 2 fungi, and several bee viruses. One virus stood out because it had never been identifies in the U.S. before; IAPV. IAPV was first identified in 2004 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. IAPV was identified by the article as having been present in almost all, but not all, cases of CCD that they studied. It was present in one colony of bees not exhibiting CCD symptoms. The strong correlation isn't proof that CCD is caused by IAPV. There is a possibility that CCD weakened the bees and made them vulnerable t a IAPV infection.

For more, read the article, or see

.

[Charlie]

And what will be done about this. More studies? Shit...man can live by corn alone, eh? To hell with the bees.

This is likely to be like so many other "problems" ie climate change, yada yada, ad nauseum, in which the studies and data are so far behind the curve and problem, in the interest of being factually correct (and usually corrupted and delayed by corporate/power greed) that said problem reaches and breeches the tipping point.

Perhaps we should bee looking at what is beeing done to the overworked and toxified workerbees and draw a comparison to what is being done to the overworked and toxified workerpeople in the colony?

Ain't it funny how some of the top turds have purchased large acreages in other places than the testing grounds of the U$, Africa and MidEast?

From the DailyKos, that paradigm of leftthink and paranoid based reporting...

little more diggin' and refutation of this only serves to strengthen the reporting.

Charlie

[Billy]

Uh, I hesitate to mention that bees are to big to let fail. They are responsible for about 30% of what we eat.

But continue on, it's a good rant ;O)

[Charlie]

This "To hell with the bees" statement was meant to be sarcastic, but didn't usenet translate well apparently. You know, most of what will be left to eat will be monsatano controlled grains, etc.......

Oh well, sometimes things just fall flat.... ;-)

Charlie

[Bill]

Some spam concerning honey that does not crystallize over time.

Bill had some this AM on Buckwheat pancakes.

[Billy]

Yeah, I know big guy. I was just underlining your statement with my crayon ;O)

[Billy]

HIGH FRUCTOSE, LOW GLUCOSE RATIO? J____ H. _____t, how is this different then than "high fructose corn syrup"? Fructose requires an enzyme in the liver to break it down. If this enzyme is depleted, the fructose is stored as fat in your liver. Causality is still in dispute but high fructose corn syrup came on the market at about the time that the present Type II diabetes epidemic started. Glucose on the other hand is your friend and is easily metabolized. Maybe too easily, but there you have it.

[Bill]

From the site mentioned.

"Real Tupelo honey is a light golden amber color with a greenish cast.  The flavor is delicious, delicate and distinctive; a choice table grade honey.  Good white tupelo, unmixed with other honeys, will not granulate, and due to this high fructose low glucose ratio some diabetic patients have been permitted by their physicians to eat Tupelo honey.  Average analysis:  fructose 44.03% glucose 29.98%. "

Bill

[Charlie]

Doesn't the problem lie in both the source *and* the amounts? HFCS is added to so many processed foods and we get a compound effect from all the additions. Isn't the fructose found in honey the same fructose, not refined, as found in fruits, etc?

True, glucose is metabolized quite easily, but with a significant effect upon insulin release and production. This insulin response is lower with fructose, and I mean fructose found in natural products, not the refined fructose that you can use as sweetner or that is added to products.

Perhaps, as is often the case with other things, moderation is key. From Wiki:

"Unlike glucose, fructose is almost entirely metabolized in the liver. "When fructose reaches the liver," says Dr. William J. Whelan, a biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine, "the liver goes bananas and stops everything else to metabolize the fructose." Eating fructose as compared to glucose results in lower circulating insulin (pancreatic beta cell insulin release is controlled only by blood glucose levels) and leptin levels, and attenuation in the suppression of ghrelin postprandially.[53] These hormones are implicated in the control of appetite and satiety, and it is suspected that eating large amounts of fructose increases the likelihood of weight gain.[54]"

Note "large amounts"

Think glycemic index. Aren't foods often more than a sum of their parts?

What you say about the epidemic of type II and the correlation to HCFS appears to be true.

Charlie, off to the garden and do something....anything.

[phorbin]

Nosema Apis and Nosema Ceranae... related to fungi.

Wikipedia has an article

I'm sure you're aware of the following site, just for the record The UK Beekeepers have a good diseases page.

One virus stood out because it had never been identifies in the U.S.

Thanks for posting the link. I'm familiar with the site, just a few months out of date. Been busy with a neighbourhood vs parking lot expansion.

I'll read the article at the library tomorrow.

[Billy]

In article , Charlie wrote:

There is a limited amount of enzyme in the liver that can convert fructose to glucose. It is a finite quantity at any given time. Once it is used up, fat starts getting deposited in the liver. That's not all. It is just the beginning. Wish I could give you chapter and verse on this right now, but it has been too long since I had it in my retrievable memory. In the mean time try:

. emerging evidence from recent epidemiological and biochemical studies clearly suggests that the high dietary intake of fructose has rapidly become an important causative factor in the development of the metabolic syndrome. There is an urgent need for increased public awareness of the risks associated with high fructose consumption and greater efforts should be made to curb the supplementation of packaged foods with high fructose additives.

POLLAN: I think it's really an important thing to do. The fact is we've had 50 years of letting corporations cook our meals, and it appears now that they were not doing a very good job of it. The food they're cooking is making people sick. It is one of the reasons that we have the obesity and diabetes epidemics that we do. And it's not surprising because they do not take as much care of our health and welfare as our parents do when they cook for us.

POLLAN: The Western diseases, which--they were named that about a hundred years ago by a medical doctor named Denis Burkitt, an Englishman, who noted that there--after the Western diet comes to these countries where he had spent a lot of time in Africa and Asia, a series of Western diseases followed, very predictably: obesity, diabetes, heart disease and a specific set of cancers. And he said, well, they must have this common origin, because we keep seeing this pattern.

And we've known this for a hundred years, that if you eat this Western diet, which is defined basically as--I mean, we all know what the Western diet is, but to reiterate it, it's lots of processed food, lots of refined grain and pure sugar, lots of red meat and processed meats, very little whole grains, very little fresh fruits and vegetables. That's the Western diet--it's the fast-food diet--that we know it leads to those diseases. About 80 percent of heart disease, at least as much Type II diabetes, 33 to 40 percent cancers all come out of eating that way, and we know this. And the odd thing is that it doesn't seem to discomfort us that much.

his recent book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, journalist Michael Pollan claims that the way that the body processes HFCS is different from the way it processes the glucose and fructose found in other sugars. Digesting sucrose requires the production of an enzyme called sucrase, which breaks the bond between the glucose molecule and the fructose molecule. Because the body regulates its production of sucrase, it can only digest sucrose at a certain rate. Because digesting HFCS does not require sucrase, the rate at which it is digested is not similarly regulated by the body.[citation needed] Elliot et al.,[26] implicate increased consumption of fructose (due primarily to the increased consumption of sugars but also partly due to the slightly higher fructose content of HFCS as compared to sucrose) in obesity and insulin resistance. Chi-Tang Ho et al. found that soft drinks sweetened with HFCS are up to 10 times richer in harmful carbonyl compounds, such as methylglyoxal, than a diet soft drink control.[27] Carbonyl compounds are elevated in people with diabetes and are blamed for causing diabetic complications such as foot ulcers and eye and nerve damage;[28][29] A study in mice suggests that fructose increases obesity.[30] Large quantities of fructose stimulate the liver to produce triglycerides, promotes glycation of proteins and induces insulin resistance.[31] According to one study, the average American consumes nearly 70 pounds of HFCS a year, marking HFCS as a major contributor to the rising rates of obesity in the last generation. [32] In a 2007 study, rats were fed a diet high in fat and HFCS and kept them relatively sedentary for 16 weeks in an attempt to emulate the diet and lifestyle of many Americans.[33] The rats were not forced to eat, but were able to eat as much as they wanted; they consumed a large amount of food, suggesting that fructose suppresses the sensation of fullness. Within four weeks, the rats showed early signs of fatty liver disease and type II diabetes. Shapiro et al. fed rats a high-fructose diet for six months and compared them to rats that had been fed a fructose-free diet. Although the rats that had consumed high levels of fructose showed no change in weight, when compared to the rats that had consumed a fructose-free diet, levels of leptin in the blood of rats fed a high-fructose diet indicated the development of leptin resistance. When the rats were switched to a high-fat diet, the leptin-resistant rats, those fed a high-fructose diet, gained more weight than those who had not developed the resistance and had been fed a fructose-free diet.[34]

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BEWARE PROCESSED FOODS

[Billy]

Bill, this makes a weird kind of sense. I presume the fructose conversion takes longer, and gives the body more time to deal with the resulting glucose. In type II diabetes, the problem isn't insulin production. The problem is getting the insulin into the cell, where it does its' work. See my response to Charlie.

[Bill]

I'm attracted to weird kind of stuff. I love Tupelo honey. Can't find it local stores. BUT it is the best I've come in contact with.

Bill

Tupelo Honey 6:55 Van Morrison Tupelo Honey MPEG audio file Pop 3/23/09 12:52 PM

[Steve Peek]

From a beekeeper's point of view, nosema= bee diarhea. Steve

[Charlie]

Thanks for the refs......Michael's writings and research, as you know, are well known to me.

And once again we return to the sage advice of our favorite food guru..

But wasn't the original point about the danger of the fructose content and composition of honey? I have no disagreement with youse about the dangers and widespread use of HFCS and added sweeteners of all sorts and all that stuff, and the effects upon our livers, etc. Honey I will not accept as nutritionally dangerous, in moderation, as with all things, and part of a, how shall we say it?....proper diet.

Charlie

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called? -- Winnie the Pooh

[Billy]

Uh, your kidding, right? Sorry, sometimes I' a little slow.

Yeah, that's what the manufactures of junk food say.

I'm sorry Bill. Honest, if I find out that sex is bad for one, I won't tell you, but this is just freakin' honey ;O)