Aluminum Residue In Nectar Might Cause Bees To Develop Alzheimer’s

The link between Aluminum and Alzheimer’s Disease is a widely debated issue among scientists. A recent study however finds greatly elevated Aluminum levels in bees, that might be partly to blame for their demise.

The study has been conducted by a team of researchers from the Universities of Keele and Sussex. They have measured the levels of Aluminum toxicity in bees in their pupal stage, which is a pre-adult stage in their development.

The scientists form Sussex University have collected the bee pupae from among those colonies that feed freely. Then, they were transported to the University of Keele, where the actual measurements took place.

The results that they got were absolutely shocking. They Aluminum levels that they found in the bees were between 13 ppm and 200 ppm. These values are sky high, considering that a 3 ppm Aluminum level detected in a human, which is hundreds of times larger than a bee, are enough to be considered “potentially pathological in human brain tissue”.

There is previous research that has demonstrated that the bees are unable to detect the flowers that are contaminated with Aluminum or pesticides. They are defenseless in front of this chemical threat precisely because they cannot avoid it.

Human exposure to Aluminum is precisely Keele University Professor Chris Exley’s area of expertise. He explains that the chemical’s neurotoxic properties have been proven to affect animal behavior in scientific models for Aluminum intoxication. Therefore, it is highly possible that the bees might be be affected by an Alzheimer’s-like disease.

Furthermore, this condition might be contributing to the decline that has been observed in bee population lately, as they greatly rely on the cognitive function of their brain for their daily routine.

Bee populations are being heavily threatened at the moment by the effects of climate change that alter their habitats, by highly evolved parasitic mites that bring a wide range of crippling and even deadly viral diseases with them and by pesticide residues that are poisoning the bees’ food supply.

Aside from that, this Aluminum contamination cannot be without consequence, given the enormous levels that have been registered in this recent study. There is further research that needs to be conducted in order to understand the exact effects that this chemical has on the bees and the possibility that this Alzheimer’s-like disease is destroying the world natural pollinators.
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