"Hornets
From Hell" Offer Real-Life Fright
The largest hornet in the world, the aggressive black-and-yellow
giant hornet is both feared and revered in Japan. The ingredients
of its powerful venom are contained in a popular sports drink
touted as a performance booster.
- Read
The Story: National Geographic News
Matthew
Green tracks down long-distance runner Takahashi Naoko
"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."
- Full
Story from Japan File
"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
"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
"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
"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
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
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
