Reference Number: 33
Year: 2013
Link: Link to original paper
Health: Glyphosate | Gut Microbiome - Creating Healthier Bread to Support Optimal Gut Health
Summary
Summary
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, is the most popular herbicide used worldwide. The industry asserts it is minimally toxic to humans, but here we argue otherwise. Residues are found in the main foods of the Western diet, comprised primarily of sugar, corn, soy and wheat. CYP enzymes (enzymes that are essential for the metabolism of many medication and this class has more than 50 enzymes, six of them metabolize 90 percent of drugs) play crucial roles in biology and glyphosate has shown to suppress the activity of these enzymes mainly P450. Thus, glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. Here, we show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We explain the documented effects of glyphosate and its ability to induce disease, and we show that glyphosate is the “textbook example” of exogenous semiotic entropy: the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY
This paper reviews the toxic effects of the herbicide, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® in humans and demonstrates how glyphosate exerts adverse effects on the gut microbiota and a great number of the diseases and conditions that are prevalent in the modern industrialised world including autism, obesity and IBD. The current paper sheds light to the possible ill effects of herbicides such as glyphosate used in the cultivation of wheat and other agricultural crops thereby emphasising on the use of organically sourced produce like used at the sourdough school as a key to leading healthier and ethical lifestyles.
