High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a fructose-glucose (50-50 ratio) liquid sweetener. Consumers have been using it as an alternative to sucrose, known to most of us as table sugar. The food and beverage industry got to know about HFCS for the first time in the 1970s, and have been using it ever since. In the 1980s, speculation was high about links HFCS had with metabolic anomalies.

My Notes

High fructose corn syrup is a sweet, sugary compound that finds its way into sodas and all kinds of food products. For years scientists considered HFCS as a perfectly safe sugar alternative. Today, however, the science is not so kind. It is no longer the mundane ingredient we once thought it was.

You can read a full scientific report into High-fructose corn syrup, including its history:
Straight talk about high-fructose corn syrup: what it is and what it ain't.
John S White | From White Technical Research, Argenta, IL

There are genuine concerns that HFCS has definite links to the growing incidence of obesity in the US and around the world. Well, this is the substance that some beekeepers are feeding to their bees. It's not making them fat, but it could be helping to kill them off.

Why this Matters

In recent times the honey bee population has been in decline around the world. We still have no clear-cut knowledge to the root cause(s) of the problem. However, we do have some idea of a few of the potential contributing factors to CCD.

Researchers at the University of Illinois now have one more potential cause of CCD to add to the list. They found that beekeepers are feeding HFCS, along with a few other honey substitutes, to their bees. They do this to replace the honey they take from them. But scientists now think this could also be related to the recent and very dramatic decline in bee populations.

According to a piece in the Los Angeles Times, bees need honey, not honey substitutes. They need the real McCoy to help them stay alive and well. The reason is because the honey made from pollen gives bees a vital chemical. This chemical helps them to break down the toxins in pesticides. Without it, well, it's not difficult to join the dots.

You can read the scientific report on this:
Researchers find high-fructose corn syrup may be tied to worldwide collapse of bee colonies.

Summary

There's no question of doubt that Colony Collapse Disorder is a combination of many factors. We know what some of these are likely to be, but we don't know what they all are. This is worrying. And now science points to high-fructose corn syrup as yet another likely contributor. If it is, then this is yet one more of man's negative influences on the declining bee populations around the world. That's the bad news. The good news is that we get to apply fresh solutions whenever we identify new problems.