Dear Beeliners, I propose the Americans start bee-eating to match the ant-eating by the Chinese <:) encl. ************************************************************************ >From: [log in to unmask] (UPI) Subject: Chinese scientists say eating ants is healthy Date: Wed, 21 Oct 92 1:24:11 PDT Lines: 19 BEIJING (UPI) -- An ant a day keeps the doctor away -- at least according to Chinese scientists. The official Xinhua news agency said Chinese entomologists, or ant experts, recently wound up their country's first national symposium on the medical applications of ants. Xinhua quoted the experts as saying China has a 3,000-year history of ant-eating, with many Chinese still munching crunchy ants today. ``In some regions in southwest China, local people regularly eat ants, and...as a result, the locals enjoy good health,'' Xinhua said. The news agency said some 40 entomologists and medical workers attending the three-day seminar concluded that China's most-common ant species, Polyrhachis Vicina Roger, proved effective against rheumatism, hepatitis-B and other ``immunity disorders.'' The ants also contain many trace elements vital to human health, Xinhua said. The news agency added that the ``many reseach papers'' presented at the seminar included new techniques on extracting ``the usable ingredients from ants...to make medicine.'' ``This marked a new ant-processing stage to the old direct-eating method,'' Xinhua said.