Types of sugars bees eat

[edwardw]

Does anyone know if bees benefit  from other types of sugars or even sugar alloys?  I know people feed the sucrose and high fructose corn syrup, but what about other sugar alcohols?  Erythritol, Xylitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol, Isomalt, Maltitol?

Edward

[JP]

Sucrose is best, many feed beet sugar, the big guys feed HFC because its the cheapest. Anything else can cause dysentery and perhaps even other problems.

The tried and true for the backyarder is sucrose.


...JP

[Michael Bush]

Some of those others show up in minute amounts in honey, but not in any significant amounts.  Sucrose is best as that is the primary ingredient in nectar.