Is Glyphosate Causing A Health Epidemic?

by Jes Williams @feelmoregooder

What is Glyphosate?

According to the National Library of Medicine, glyphosate is “a non-selective systemic biocide with broad-spectrum activity, is the most widely used herbicide in the world.” This harsh herbicide is astonishingly pervasive and is in our air, our water supply, and in the food we eat. (1) It is also important to make the connection that glyphosate is the active ingredient in RoundUp. (18)

The primary reason glyphosate is used so widely is because many crops have been genetically engineered to be resistant to it, allowing it to target weeds (or unwanted plants that are competing for soil nutrients) while leaving resistant crops unaffected. (2)

What’s the Problem with Glyphosate/RoundUp?

It turns out, glyphosate is a huge issue (classified as a probably human carcinogen)(15) and is shown in the literature to be detrimental to the human body. Studies show us that exposure to glyphosate (especially during the early stages of life) can seriously affect normal cell development by deregulating some of the signaling pathways involved in this process, leading to alterations in differentiation, neuronal growth, and myelination. 

Additionally, this popular herbicide also exerts a significant toxic effect on neurotransmission. It induces oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, processes that lead to neuronal death due to autophagy, necrosis, or apoptosis; as well being causal for the appearance of behavioral and motor disorders.

The doses of glyphosate that elicit these neurotoxic effects vary widely but, it’s important to realize the unfortunate truth that these limits are lower than the limits set by regulatory agencies. 

In the literature, it is unequivocally shown that exposure to the herbicide glyphosate negatively creates important alterations in the structure and function of the nervous system of humans (this also goes for rodents, fish, and invertebrates). This is in addition to causing metabolic disorders, reproductive harm, diseases of blood sugar dysregulation, blood-related ailments, liver inflammation, kidney impairment, and cardiovascular-related illness. (1, 3, 4, 5, 8)

Another important detrimental impact of glyphosate is that it compromises tight junctions that exist in your gastointestinal lining. These are important for many reasons, including being a part of a vital communication chain that exists within your body. A 2005 study (which tells us this is not new information), confirms that “glyphosate disrupts tight junctions between the small bowel and colonic epithelium cells.” (6)

BrocElite as a Solution for Glyphosate/Roundup Exposure

The scientists here at The Mara Labs found upon studying glyphosate that when they put this herbicide on cells, the ability to transfer all small molecules was cut in half, which is a really serious deficit in communication. This depicts how glyphosate really negatively impacts systemic and gut communication.

As a result of glyphosate exposure, Nrf2 (a transcription factor involved in stress response and more)(7) in the cells studied went down, as well as the integrity of the gap junctions.

Then, when the scientists put stabilized sulforaphane from BrocElite back on these cells, gap junction communication went up above normal. And, when gap junctions are restored, they then are able to neutralize and recalibrate. (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

BrocElite is Glyphosate Residue Free Certified

Glyphosate Residue Free certification verifies that food and supplement products do not contain the most commonly used herbicide, glyphosate. As we’ve been discussing in this post, this is important because glyphosate is incredibly problematic, and you certainly don’t want to be inadvertently ingesting glyphosate through your supplements. Glyphosate is a “probable human carcinogen” according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. (15)

Ways to Avoid Glyphosate/Roundup

-Don't eat things with high fructose corns syrup or soy bean oil (vegetable oil)

-Opt for an olive oil and vinegar combination as your salad dressing (to avoid contaminated oils)

-Get familiar with & read all food labels so that you have a better idea of what you’re ingesting

-Eat organic whenever possible, especially in regards to the foods you eat daily (i.e. coffee, eggs, etc.) *if it's certified organic, it cannot be GMO or have glyphosate

-Invest in a high-quality water filter (17)

-Avoid genetically modified (GMO) foods (16)

-Support your liver with herbs and plant compounds

-Buy grass-fed meats and pasture-raised poultry

References:

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9101768/

2. https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/topics/glyphosate

3. https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/childhood-exposure-to-common-herbicide-may-increase-the-risk-of-disease-in-young-adulthood

4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935122012609

5. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/toxicology/articles/10.3389/ftox.2024.1474792/full

6. https://journals.lww.com/nrronline/fulltext/2024/10000/glyphosate_as_a_direct_or_indirect_activator_of.22.aspx#:~:

7. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7369905/

8. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12403-021-00451-3#:~:text=2020

9. https://envmedicine.com/webinars/sulforaphane-in-detox-and-brain-health-from-autism-to-alzheimers/

10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8508555/

11. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7699211/

12. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10495681/

13. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944711324003908

14. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20183075

15. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7530464/

16. https://gmoanswers.com/gmos-in-the-us

17. https://www.drfranklipman.com/post/10-ways-to-keep-weed-killer-glyphosate-out-of-your-body

18. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9229215/