Glyphosate and your health
Tips to avoid eating foods that may be contaminated.
Few things have as great an impact on our health as the foods we eat. The old adages “You are what you eat” and “Let the buyer beware” resonate with new meaning in today’s world where our food supply has become increasingly toxic. Foods that once nourished us are now making us sick. In order to safeguard our health, it’s becoming increasingly necessary to educate ourselves so that we can make informed decisions about what we put into our bodies.
One of the most poisonous substances that has made its way into our food supply is glyphosate, the herbicide in the weed killer Roundup. Much research is being done on the effects of glyphosate, but many doctors and nutritionists agree that it is contaminating the foods we eat. Lab testing done in 2015 found glyphosate in urine samples of 93% of those tested.
A brief history shows that glyphosate was originally patented in 1964 as a metal chelator used to clean industrial piping. In 1971, it was patented as an herbicide, called Roundup, by the chemical company Monsanto (purchased by Bayer in 2018). In 2010, it received a third patent as an antibiotic.
How did this chemical, which the World Health Organization named a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015, make its way into the majority of our foods? GMO, “Roundup Ready” crops are genetically modified to survive being sprayed by Roundup, which kills the surrounding weeds. This combination of GMO crops with routine herbicide spraying was promoted as a way of increasing harvest productivity and has now become the foundation for industrial farming.
Roughly 70% of all U.S. crops are GMO, and more than 90% of corn and soy planted in the U.S. is GMO. An estimated 70% of packaged foods in grocery aisles contain corn or soy in some form. Glyphosate is also used to spray upwards of 70 non-GMO crops including almonds, quinoa, grapes and oranges. You may be surprised to learn that it is routinely used in the desiccation (drying) at harvest of non GMO crops such as oats, wheat, barley, potatoes, sunflowers, lentils and peas. Once sprayed, it is absorbed into the plant and cannot be washed off.
An FDA-registered lab in California found alarmingly high levels of glyphosate in oat-based breakfast cereals, instant oatmeal, granola bars, dried pasta, chips, cookies and crackers. Additionally, glyphosate makes its way into commercially farmed livestock and fish, which are fed GMO feed. If that isn’t enough, glyphosate in runoff from farms and lawns has made its way into the majority of rivers, streams and larger bodies of water and has been detected in about 70% of rainfall samples, as well as in tap water. On an environmental level, it impacts all species with which we share the intricate web of life.
So what is all this glyphosate doing to us? Glyphosate causes both intestinal permeability, also known as “leaky gut” (it increases zonulin, a protein which regulates gut permeability), and disruption of our gut microbiome, via its antibiotic effects.
According to Dr. Alessio Fasano at Harvard, leaky gut contributes to chronic inflammation in the body and is the most significant driver of disease; it opens the door to thousands of inflammatory illnesses. On top of that, just as glyphosate effectively binds metals for pipe cleaning purposes, it attaches to minerals in our digestive tract so they cannot be used by our body. Similarly, it strips the soil of nutrients and kills off the rich microbial life that resides there, resulting in crops that are less nourishing.
A shortlist of illnesses that have been linked to glyphosate includes cancer, autism, autoimmune disease, birth defects, kidney failure, GI issues such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In 2018 a jury in California awarded $289 million to a school groundskeeper after concluding that Glyphosate had caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. (The case is in appeals.) As of September 2020, it is estimated that 125,000 Roundup cases have been or will be filed against Bayer.
What steps can we take to avoid glyphosate?
• Eat organic food, as much as possible. The use of glyphosate is prohibited in organic farming. One research study showed that urine glyphosate levels dropped by more than 70% in just six days when individuals switched to an all organic diet.
• Avoid eating farmed animals and fish fed GMO feed. Non-GMO is no guarantee that the foods have not been sprayed with glyphosate for drying purposes before harvest (particularly true for oats). Fortunately, more and more grocery stores stock organic foods. Farmers markets, CSA’s and local farmers who grow organically are great sources. By supporting shops, farmers and restaurants that provide organic foods, we promote change.
• Home gardening is making a comeback — grow your own foods organically. Think twice about using glyphosate for weeds and look into less toxic alternatives.
• Consume probiotic and prebiotic foods and take a probiotic supplement to replenish gut microbes.
• Support detox in your body. Studies have shown that the following may reduce glyphosate levels in your body: sauna, intermittent fasting, Terrahydrite, glycine, bentonite clay, activated charcoal and herbs such as dandelion, milk thistle and burdock. Seek out a practitioner who can make recommendations.
We are inextricably linked to nature. Our health and its health are one and the same. Let’s be better stewards for the precious gift of life.
“Every chronic disease is rooted in a poor diet. I see reversals in my clients all the time. When they change what they’re eating their health improves. Some people see complete resolution of conditions, even digestive conditions they’ve had for many years.”
— Freya Oostingh of BioLogic Nutrition, Wyomissing