Hi all,
Just saw this published. The authors are concerned with analyzing   
the chemical composition of the honey made by free-flying bees vs.  
those that are fed HFCS and kept to a confined area so as not to  
forage. They do not look at bee health, or the honey made by free- 
flying bees following HFCS feeding... Not sure how relevant that is,  
since most people would be careful about not adding honey supers when  
feeding, but here it is anyway...
Kurt

Carbohydrate Composition of High-Fructose Corn Syrups (HFCS) Used for  
Bee Feeding: Effect on Honey Composition
Ana Isabel Ruiz-Matute, Milagra Weiss, Diana Sammataro, Jennifer  
Finely, and Maria Luz Sanz
Journal of Agricultural and Food chemistry
pp 7317–7322
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf100758x
In this study, the carbohydrate composition of high-fructose corn  
syrups (HFCS) from commercial manufacturers as well as from  
beekeepers was characterized by GC-MS. Sucrose syrups (SS) were also  
included in this work for comparison. Fructosyl-fructoses and some  
unknown carbohydrates, which could correspond to fructosyl-glucoses,  
have been detected in HFCS for the first time, whereas SS were mainly  
characterized by the high contents of sucrose. Hydroxymethylfurfural  
(HMF) content of samples supplied by beekeepers was much more  
variable; the mean level of HMF was 64.61 ppm (±16.92 ppm, 95% CI  
ranging from 26.91 to 102.31 ppm). Syrups were used to feed caged  
bees and the resulting honeys produced were analyzed in order to  
determine their influence in carbohydrate composition. Fructosyl- 
fructoses were mainly detected in honeys from bees fed with HFCS, but  
not from those honeys coming from free-flying bees or bees fed with SS.
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