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Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:04:15 -0400 |
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Hi all, I know that HMF in HFCS has been discussed in the past, but I
saw this new research:
High-fructose corn syrup is not just an ingredient in many human
foods. Beekeepers also feed it to their pollinators to encourage
colony growth or when nectar is scarce. But dehydration of fructose
can lead to formation of trace amounts of hydroxymethylfurfural
(HMF), a key biomass-derived chemical that happens to be toxic to
honeybees. A group of researchers has now evaluated HMF formation in
stored corn syrup and its impact on bee mortality (J. Agric. Food
Chem., http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9014526). Led by Blaise
W. LeBlanc, formerly of USDA’s Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, in
Tucson, Ariz., and Gillian Eggleston of USDA’s Southern Regional
Research Center, in New Orleans, the team found that HMF
concentrations increased with time in stored corn syrup, depending on
temperature, pH, and possibly the presence of manganese, which is
known to catalyze HMF formation in honey. They also found that bee
mortality increased significantly when the insects were fed corn
syrup containing 250 ppm HMF, compared with 57–200 ppm. The results
should be useful to beekeepers evaluating how to safely store corn
syrup, the researchers say.
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