"A small but highly efficient killing machine—a hornet two inches long and with a wingspan up to three inches—lurks in the mountains of Japan. The voracious predator has a quarter-inch stinger that pumps out a dose of venom with an enzyme so strong it can dissolve human tissue". More>
National Geographic News
"VAAM, the Meiji sports drink has become popular ever since Takahashi cited it as the source of her stamina at Sydney. The drink, which contains extract from the giant hornet Mandarina Japonica, has also proved popular with non-Japanese marathon runners since it was the subject of an article in The New York Times."
Japan Files
"in Japan, marathon runners and other endurance athletes are swilling a new sports drink called VAAM, which contains a liquid secreted by hornet larvae. In fact, 2000 Olympic Marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi claims the hornet juice contributed to her victory in Sydney. This bug juice, mostly a mixture of amino acids, is normally consumed by adult hornets, and, according to scientific researchers, gives these insects their great endurance and speed..."
RunnersWorld.com
"Sales of giant killer hornet juice soar are sure to soar following Naoko Takahashi record-setting run last weekend at the Berlin marathon. The first woman to crack the two-hour, 20-minute barrier, Takahashi said her success was fuelled by a drink made from the juice of Japanese killer hornets. According to the diminutive Japanese runner, who was racing in her first marathon since taking gold at the Sydney Olympics, the juice reduces muscle fatigue and improves the body's efficiency by increasing the ability to metabolize fat and reduce the buildup of lactic acid. And best of all, hornet juice doesn't appear on any banned substance list."
USAtoday.com
"Scientists at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research near Tokyo found the juice helped the three-inch (8 cm) long hornets to fly the equivalent of more than two marathons in search of food — and had a similar effect on humans. The juice reduced muscle fatigue and improved the body’s efficiency, according to scientists."
ABC News
"Reports said that the drink, which is 100% natural, did not fall foul of Olympic laws against performance-enhancing drugs. The hornets, which measure up to 7.6cm, fly the equivalent of two marathons in a day at 32kph looking for food for their young."
BBC News
Japan's Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi has flatly denied that she was helped by a performance-enhancing substance when she set the world's best marathon time in Berlin. Most Japanese media have ignored the doping allegations, but some tabloids raised a furore over a report in an American newspaper that claimed her performance was chemically enhanced. The report pointed to Takahashi's year-old comment that her success at the Sydney Olympics was partly due to drinking the stomach secretions of larval grubs of giant killer hornets.The drink in question is a commercially-sold Japanese fitness beverage, allegedly derived from 17 kinds of amino acid to promote the burning of body fat.
BBC News
"Soon after Olympic women's marathon champion Naoko Takahashi showed overwhelming strength to win the Berlin Marathon on Sept 30, the New York Times suggested she might have got some help from a peculiar drug. Almost two pages were devoted to the Oct 1 article by reporter Jere Longman who wrote: 'Since the Sydney Olympics, Naoko Takahashi has been taking a concoction based on the secretion of hornet larvae.'"
Shukan Post, Japan
"Takahashi doesn't drink Gatorade or Powerade. Rather, she is loyal to a more peculiar elixir that she has called the crucial factor in her success. 'It's a sport drink made from a liquid that hornets produce. I've been drinking it for the last five years. It makes it possible to run far. [Hornet juice] enables athletes to give everything.'"
Mt Holyoke News, USA
"The hornet juice reduced muscle fatigue and improved the body's efficiency, according to scientists. "We are delighted that the fruits of our research have been recognized through Naoko Takahashi's success," a spokesman for the institute told Reuters. A Japanese firm, Meiji Milk Products, has reproduced the raw juice and is now marketing it as an energy drink."
UW News
"Scientists at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research near Tokyo began investigating the species of large hornets (Vespa mandarina japonica) to find out what gave them the energy to fly the equivalent of more than two marathons in search of food for their young. The researchers found that the energy source was an acidic juice produced by young hornets and passed back to the adults."
SMH News
"Naoko Takahashi, who became a national heroine by winning the women's marathon, drank VAAM, the unusual beverage before and during the race after Japanese scientists found it gave an astonishing boost to human performance. The drink, being 100 percent natural, does not fall foul of Olympic laws against performance-enhancing drugs."
Netscape Daily News
"Amino acids taken from the saliva of baby hornets improve physical endurance in humans, according to biochemist Takashi Abe, who developed the drink five years ago. It's sold in Japan by Meiji Milk Products as a high-tech sports drink, under the brand name VAAM, short for vespa (Latin for wasp) amino acid mixture."
InteliHealth.com
A Japanese marathon star who won Olympic gold in Sydney got a crucial extra buzz by drinking the stomach juice of giant, killer hornets. Naoko Takahashi, who became a national heroine by winning the women's marathon, drank the unusual beverage before and during the race after Japanese scientists found it gave an astonishing boost to human performance.
Cosmiverse.com
It scored a hit with its VAAM health drink, which contains endurance-enhancing amino acids found in hornet saliva. VAAM had crowds abuzz at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after marathoner Naoko Takahashi drank it on her way to a gold-medal finish.
Hoover's Online
"Hornets From Hell" Offer Real-Life Fright
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
October 25, 2002
A small but highly efficient killing machine—a hornet two inches long and with a wingspan up to three inches—lurks in the mountains of Japan. The voracious predator has a quarter-inch stinger that pumps out a dose of venom with an enzyme so strong it can dissolve human tissue.
Bees, other hornet species, and larger insects such as praying mantises are no match for the giant hornets, which often stalk their prey in relentless armies. Just one of these hornets can kill 40 European honeybees a minute; a handful of the creatures can slaughter 30,000 European honeybees within hours, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs.
People are not the Japanese giant hornet's usual prey, but those who have felt its sting describe the pain as excruciating. Masato Ono, an entomologist at Tamagawa University, near Tokyo, said it's "like a hot nail through my leg."
Someone who is stung by the hornet and doesn't receive proper treatment soon thereafter can die from the venom, which is powerful enough to disintegrate human flesh. About 40 people die each year after being stung by giant hornets, mainly as a result of an allergic reaction to the venom.
This weekend the National Geographic TV series EXPLORER takes a close look at this powerful overlord of the insect world. The program, Hornets From Hell, airs Sunday, October 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC.
Ono, who has studied the giant hornets for more than a decade, champions the insects despite their vicious reputation. "[They] seem brutal to us," he said, "but they're just doing what they have to do to survive. They're excellent mothers and fierce protectors."
The film's producer, Jeff Morales, said he wanted to give the Japanese giant hornet a fair hearing. "Hornets get a bad rap for the most part, but they really are an integral part of a delicate ecosystem," he said. "Social insects like the hornet are incredibly intriguing animals, and there are so many things we have yet to discover about their ways."
Lethal Attacks
European honeybees are a favorite target of the giant hornets. Commonly used by Japanese farmers, the honeybees are not native to Japan and have no natural defenses against an onslaught of giant hornets.
Once an enterprising hornet scouts out a bee colony, it marks the nest with a type of bodily chemical substance called a pheromone. Soon, a horde of giant hornets—each hornet five times larger than a European honeybee—arrives to decimate the colony.
The annual cycle of life and death begins anew each spring on the Japanese island of Honshu. As the cold weather fades, giant hornet queens awake from six months of hibernation. Inside, they carry the eggs of those who will be the hive's workers and soldiers.
A hornet queen lays thousands of eggs that take only a week to develop into larvae. The size of a hornet hive grows quickly as the season progresses—and so does the ravenous hunger of the young hornets.
The queen feeds her young at first, but soon an army of hornet hunters is dispatched to surrounding forests in search of more food sources. The hornets are highly industrious while their season lasts, relentlessly slaughtering other insects and building the size of their hives.
As cold weather approaches, the giant hornets' dominance comes to an end. The queens lay unfertilized eggs that will become the male hornets that are needed to fertilize a new generation of queens, which in turn hibernate until spring arrives again.
Powerful Saliva
Adult hornets feed their young by chewing the flesh of their victims into a gooey paste that the offspring devour. The larvae are well fed, and in turn provide the adults with a powerful energy-boosting cocktail in their saliva.
It's called vespa amino acid mixture, or VAAM. Regular doses of VAAM from the larvae give giant hornets their incredible stamina and energy—when pursuing prey, they can travel a range of 60 miles (96 kilometers) at speeds reaching 25 miles per hour.
The incredible effects of VAAM have not gone unnoticed in Japan: The country's latest sports drink is based on this "hornet power." It contains a synthetic form of components in the hornet larval saliva, which is touted as performance-boosting. Japanese gold medalist and world-record marathon runner Naoko Takahashi declared that VAAM gave her an edge in the Olympic Games held in Sydney, Australia.
In Japan's mountain villages, the hornets are valued as part of the basic diet. They are eaten deep fried, or even as hornet sashimi.
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