> 2. Produce vitamin C in their bodies?
>
In the study using caged bees, significantly more brood was reared by bees
fed either the diet supplemented with 500 pg/g or the control than by bees
offered diets containing
either 1 000 or 2 000 pg/g L-ascorbic acid. This study also demonstrated for
the first time that
bees are able to produce this vitamin since prepupae from colonies fed the
diets without vitamin C
had equivalent levels of ascorbic acid to those fed the enriched diets.
EFFECT OF DIETARY VITAMIN C LEVELS
ON THE RATE OF BROOD PRODUCTION
OF FREE-FLYING AND CONFINED COLONIES
OF HONEY BEES

Looks like too much vit C can be harmful to bees.

>
> >Grazing animals, like goats, that ingest dirt with their food generate
> vast amounts of vitamin C.
>

Virtually all  vertebrates except humans, monkeys, guinea pigs, and a few
birds and fish produce their own ascorbic acid, so it would not be a vitamin
to them.

I don't understand the fixation on ascorbic acid--there are a number of
other antioxidants also in the the diet.

Randy Oliver

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