Mushrooms Extend Bee Life, Provide Bioshield Against Collapse
by Jefferey Jaxen
As humanity becomes more conscious to the language of nature, it is clear that mushrooms in their many forms come in peace and are here to help. The uses, benefits, and applications of mushrooms currently seem to be limitless cutting across all industries, cultures, and modalities. Embraced by the medical community, gardeners, architects, spiritualists, religions and others, their boundaries are yet to be found.
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The intricate matrix of mushroom mycelium under our feet represents rebirth, rejuvenation, and regeneration. It waits patiently to reveal secrets for those with the courage to sidestep mainstream assumptions in search of something better. Fungi are the grand molecular disassemblers in nature, decomposing plants and animals, creating forests…they’re soil magicians, according to Paul Stamets, world-renown mycologist.
Presenting at the recent Bioneers Annual Conference, Paul Stamets gave bombshell evidence that there is hope for bees, colony collapse, and our entire ecosystem. Washington State University recently completed a longevity stress test on bee populations that appears to confirm that the genes for the detoxification pathways in bees are turned on by beneficial fungi they collect from their environment. What’s more, it has been confirmed in previous testing that the red belted polypore mushroom degrades pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.
It has also been confirmed in previous tests that fungicidal contamination reduces beneficial fungi in honey bee colonies. So what does this all mean? The widespread pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide have created an absence of beneficial fungi in bee colonies. This turns off the proper detoxification pathways within the bees and their colonies leading to a hyper-accumulation of toxins. Colony collapses typically follows shortly thereafter.
What appears to hold a key to slowing down or even stopping the current epidemic of bee colony collapse is a solution called “Mycohoney,” made from the polypore mushroom mycelium. When fed to bees in the University of Washington trials, it showed extraordinary significance in life extension of the honey bees. Walter S. Sheppard, PhD P.F. Thurber Professor, Chair, Department of Entomology Washington State University gave this comment:
As an entomologist with 39 years’ experience studying bees, I am unaware of any reports of materials that extend the life of worker bees more than this.
Of course there are many other benefits of mushrooms that go beyond bee-support. Shiitake mushrooms, for example, are an excellent source of some important vitamins and minerals. For starters, they have three B vitamins, B2, B5 and B6, and six important trace minerals: phosphorous, selenium, copper, zinc, potassium, magnesium, and manganese. What’s more, researchers say these mushrooms could hold the key to cervical cancer in women.
