Can foraging on canola increase honey bee health? (Apis melifera)

In addition to human health benefits canola is also a highly nutritive food for pollinators.  Pollinator hive decline (domesticated hives) is the decrease of the overall number of honey bee hives and could be detrimental in the US for pollination services. Currently we have around 2.4 million hives in the US and over 1 million are needed for the almond industry. Beekeepers have been experiencing yearly winter hive losses in the range of 20-30%, which is unsustainable for this industry.  Honey bee hives servicing California almond production are brought to the Southern Great Plains and placed near canola fields as a nectar source as soon as canola bloom begins in April. Canola could serve as an important source of nutrition to help improve disease resistance and winter death of commercial honey bee hives.  It is important to quantify the effects of foraging canola compared to other forage sources on bee hive health.