Ted Fischer quoted a study below on infant botulism in part:

By food exposure
       history, honey was significantly associated with type B infant
botulism (P = 0.005). In California, 29.2% (12/41) of hospitalized
patients
       had been fed honey prior to onset of constipation; worldwide,
honey exposure occurred in 34.7% (28/75) of hospitalized cases. Of all
food
       items tested, only honey contained C. botulinum organisms. On
household vacuum cleaner dust specimens and five soil specimens
(three
       from case homes, two from control homes) contained Clostridium
botulinum. The known ubiquitous distribution of C. botulinum implies
that
       exposure to its spores is universal and that host factors
contribute importantly to the pathogenesis of infant botulism.
However, honey is
       now an identified and avoidable source of C. botulinum spores,
and it therefore should not be fed to infants."

Please note some problems with the above conclusion:

1. Only one third of the patients even were fed honey before becoming
ill.  No comparison data on the rate of feeding honey to children of
similar age is given.  Without this comparison data you cannot
conclude that honey was in any way involved in this problem.  If one
third of infants in the area were fed honey one would expect that
about one third of those who experienced infant botulism to have been
fed honey but that in no way implies that honey is in any way
involved.

2.  The authors state "The known ubiquitous distribution of C.
botulinum implies that
       exposure to its spores is universal and that host factors
contribute importantly to the pathogenesis of infant botulism."  If
this is true i.e. that exposure to the spores is universal it surly
follows that any dietary source is insignificant in this disease
because everyone is exposed no matter what they eat.  So the authors
contradict themselves.

First the authors go beyond their data and then they contradict
themselves - it begins to sound like they had an agenda.

Honey is singled out and given a bad rap based on faulty logic and
ungrounded conclusions.  In fact there are earlier studies that show a
positive effect from including honey in formula fed to premature
infants.  These earlier studies actually have control comparison data
to back up their conclusion that honey is beneficial to premature
infants.

The more one looks into this the more it looks like an urban legend.

blane






******************************************
Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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