Bee-Leave It!

The Basis for

Glycation-Erasion Theory

 

The first step to understanding any problem is to break it into pieces and look at the essential facts and patterns.

1. We know that the bees go out and somehow lose their way by either not remembering or succumbing to some disease or plight or event that prevents them from returning.

2. Causes thus far postulated have (4)been pesticides (video), viruses, cell phone use, global climate changes, a change in the earth's electromagnetic field, mites, or even sunspots. Here we set up some links so as to observe these postulations yourself.

3. Bees left in the colony usually show different disease states that suggest something is making an attack on their (5) immune system.

4. Dead bees are not being found around the hives. This fact rules out animals or other external intruders except for disease.

Here is a great 60 minutes short documentary that generally says it all.

(6)1, 2

Now that we have listed the basic beliefs as to what CCD is caused by, let us probe into this ourselves and perhaps find the probable cause.

Upon examining all of the possible causes, newly developed pesticides appear to be the on top of the list, but the problem with this is that they are not finding evidence of pesticides in the bees tested, or in the hives they left behind, which is quite perplexing to the scientists. Even though the predominating belief of the experts is pesticides, the evidence left behind does not support that.

What if the real cause is similar to the effects of pesticides, or in fact, be made more potent by the pesticides? What if the problem is so well disguised that it would very far-fetched at first? What if the honey produced by the bees is actually is at the root of the problem?

What this could mean is, that the evidence now points to the possibility of refined sugar and its artificial counterparts in the world of sweeteners, that saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose are the hidden culprits and cause. When looking closely at this possibility, medical evidence suggests bees, like humans, are being put on sugar overload. Yet, one would say; "hey, the bees make honey for their winter food, so, what’s the difference?" The difference here can be a whole lot of things; Keep in mind the nectar collected by the bees contains a milder sugar than honey. The bees concentrate it for their own purposes, for using later. Honey contains different sugars in the form of fructose, glucose, and others at a higher concentration than nectar.

Observing honey bees, we find them in a variety of places, not just around flowers and plants. We see them buzzing around fast food joints, grocery stores, and gas stations, clamoring and scrambling for their next soda fix. It seems like they are always attracted to someone's drink or sugary snack. They circle trash bins containing discarded sodas which are loaded with high-fructose, and diet sweeteners, primarily saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose. (Sweet and Low, Equal, and Splenda) In addition, sodas are also loaded with many other preservatives, chemicals, and dyes that could also contribute to the problem.

Bees are generally attracted by colors, shapes, and aromas. They don't always get it right, some get attracted to paints only to get caught up and get stuck in them. Many pest control strategies, like the roach motel, for instance, will use sugar sweet aromas to lure their victims to their own demise. Some will mix sugar + water + pesticide to lure insects into drinking the deadly mixture.

Since the 1950s refined sugars, processed foods, fast-foods, and soda industries, have popped up all over the world to promote their great tasting delights for our consumption and enjoyment. Just like the detrimental effects of smoking, when many people were unwittingly afflicted with cancers; so too now, we are starting to see the cumulative and debilitating affects of diabetes and obesity hitting the U.S. and other countries. The long term effects from the consumption of sugars and sweeteners on the general population, including children is taking its toll. The associated diabetic disease patterns, such as Alzheimer, heart attack, poor circulation, dementia, and other neuropathies, seem to manifest more quickly than before.

Physicians are seeing a rise in childhood diabetes. Statistics show it is likely that (7)30% of children studied will develop type II diabetes, while they are still young!

So, as we observe the hidden or slow moving damage being caused to humans by this onslaught of refined sugars, and their substitutes, what do we suppose could be happening to the world's population of honeybees? Remember, we have run into them time and time again, in places where they can get their sugar fix, as opposed to obtaining their sugar resource from the more natural but diluted nectar sources normally used to make honey.

"How can bee have a 'sugar fix'?" You say. Yes, we mean, "sugar fix"! Like so many people find themselves doing, almost as if they were addicted, they consume gobs of sugar products. The brain of a bee is so much smaller than a child's brain. Children obviously get a sugar rush, when they have their cookies, cokes, and other sweet snacks. Here is a short video clip demonstrating the effects of such. So what do we think is going on in the brain of the bee? Imagine what its like when the little bee takes out his little proboscis straw and then begins to suck it all in to its honey-making stomach, all of that fructose, preservative, and the artificial sweeteners coming right in.

Now imagine it on a human sized level and this is what you get. You are diving into a sugary pool of your favorite soda float with one-foot pieces of your favorite toppings, this giant pool of liquefied pleasure all of it there for you to eat and drink. Let's imagine your favorite dessert was carrot cake and chocolate brownie sundae ice cream with hot fudge and nuts. Mmmmm. sounds good, doesn't it? And you’re swimming in it, it is there and you could have as much as you want for however long you want. How much time would you be able to savor all that intensity of great taste, before the detrimental effects of so much sugar intake would cause you to get sick? Now, what do you think the long term affects of this very same high intensity sugar consumption be on a tiny bee's brain?

The first thought would be a literal high, almost like a high from a drug. (A bee getting a buzz?) Even though bees are used to the sugar intensity of honey for winter when there are no flowers to collect nectar from. They then return to the hive, do their little dance, (9)communicate locations to other worker bees. These high intesity sugars, subtitutes and preservatives get transferred into a derivative sugar where it is used to produce honey in the honey comb as well as becoming a primary food for eggs, larvae, and about to be born adult bees.

High intensity sugars, substitutes and preservatives being processed through the hive again and again and again. Some might say, "so what's the problem? The bees are used to intense sugar in the honey." "Yes they are, but only after concentrating it by removing the water from the nectar sugar, which is at 70-80%." In the process it starts out in its original state, and then the bees dry it by the beating of their wings. Yet now, we have a situation where they are getting their high dose sugars and sugar substitutes all the time, even without the concentration and the waiting for winter. Wow! That’s a lot of high octane fuel to be running on, all the time, in their little bodies and brains.

To make this a more plausible cause, let's observe the damage that occurs to the bees and hives. A spontaneous chemical process in our human bodies, (10) glycation, begins with one's continuous and consistent loading up with sugar. Specifically, glycation is a reaction that takes place between sugar molecules and proteins.

What happens in general is that the overload of sugar present in humans, in diabetes for instance, will cause a reaction between the sugar and the protein. It is primarily due to an abundant presence of sugar. Doctors can monitor a diabetic's progress in fighting sugar diabetes through a test called the Hemoglobin A1C. If there is abundant sugar present, the A1C will be high. This is a measure of glycated protein.

With a normal A1C value, the doctor knows the patient is improving. This process slowly measures the levels of glycated sugar in the proteins, as opposed to immediate measurement of the patient's blood sugar. The blood sugar reveals what’s happening now, the A1C reveals what has been happening over the last few months. So a diabetic patient cannot tell the Doctor he's been good with his diet with the blood sugar value alone, the A1C test reaveal the rest.

The full story here about glycation is that it is not a good reaction in the human body. This reaction causes slow body damage and ageing in the same way as free radicals and oxidative stresses do. Glycation first damages the intact proteins, the secondary reaction is called the "cross linking" of proteins.

(Fructose, the main sugar in soda, has the ability to glycate 10 times as fast as regular sugar does.) This means that little chemical bridges form in between the proteins and thus further alters, damages, and changes the proteins. In many cases this damage is very significant as there can be a loss of structure, function, and even the dying of cells.

So not only can people get addicted, get a very intense sugar buzz or rush, which in itself could be life threatening, the slower process of glycation can bring on blindness, affect the immune system, affect thinking, memory, up to and including Alzheimer-like symptoms, dementia, and other forms of neural damage, including death. Dementia is a condition that can occur with too much damage to the human brain by disease and the final stages of Diabetes.

Remember the reports: first the bees seem disoriented, later, they disappear. Comparitive studies with bees and humans show the symptoms match. Loss of memory, erratic behavior, and inability to find the hive, loss of direction, immune problems, and death, are alike. The suppressed immune system would allow also the invasion of opportunistic pathogens (bacteria, parasites, and viruses) the opportunity to take over. Yet, the root cause could be first and foremost the refined sugar, sugar substitutes, and the preservatives consumed.