"Amino acids are universally present."
Yes, this is true. Now talk about the amounts present. The data I found quickly on the net say honey is about 0.3% by weight protein. A portion of that is the invertase and peroxidases the field bees put in honey made from either nectar or sugar syrup. That is so tiny it is very hard to believe it has the slightest influence on bee health. The same can be said of vitamins and minerals. Tiny traces of both are in nectar, but again in amounts so small it is hard to believe they have any positive influence on bee health and in fact minerals have been blamed for poor wintering on honey from some flowers.
In fact the best evidence comes from studies on wintering bees. Those studies show that wintering on honey made from plain white sugar is equivalent or superior to wintering on honey from flowers. I have never seen a study with data that showed wintering on honey made from flowers statistically beat wintering on sugar honey. If one exists perhaps Peter can help us as he has read more than I have.
Here is a link to a Michigan State Univ blog on feeding bees that does not even hint at any negatives about sugar stores:
https://pollinators.msu.edu/resources/beekeepers/feeding-honey-bees/
Or a more technical version by the same author:
https://bee-health.extension.org/honey-bee-nutrition/
Dick
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html