Glyphosate: The Environmental Toxin that is harming human health
Glyphosate is a neurotoxin that enters our bodies, either through direct contact with grass ( think backyards, parks, golf courses), foods (conventional produce, GMO foods, animal feed etc.) and/or the water we drink. Glyphosate, also known as Round Up, is a commonly used herbicide that can kill certain weeds and grasses. It is used primarily in agriculture, lawn and garden care as it helps kill plants that compete with crops. Because of this, it is widely used in farming and has pervaded our soil in the United States as well as our water supply. PFAS and glyphosate are tolerated in the US yet 28 countries have them banned. The U.S. tolerates 7000x the amount of glyphosate in tap water than is safe for human consumption.
0.1ppb in water altered the gene function and created severe organ damage in rats
10ppb created toxic effects on the livers of fish ( it’s in most seafood)
700ppb is the permitted level of glyphosate in US tap water
Glyphosate has been sprayed heavily on US Cash Crops like corn and soy, which are used to feed the animals that are sold to us as meat and fill the shelves of processed foods at the grocery store. 100% of cereals in the grocery store tested for levels above what is considered safe for human consumption, let alone safe for children. 1125ppb of Glyphosate was found in Cheerios. There is ZERO regulation on this stuff in the United States.
A big food company would have to completely change their supply chain if they wanted to make their product glyphosate free. They don’t care enough about that small market of people who care about glyphosate in their food. But why don’t more people care? Because the education isn’t there. There are so many toxins in our environment today that most of the world isn’t even aware of, but then people question why they are getting sick.
Glyphosate has a strong link to Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. One study shows that exposure to glyphosate triples the risk of small lymphocytic lymphoma. In another study, participants who used 5 or more of 9 pesticides tested were twice as likely to develop Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Monsanto, the maker of Round Up (Glyphosate) has been sued over and over again for Round Up related health claims. Bayer acquired Monsanto and in 2020, Bayer agreed to pay up to $10.9 billion in settling nearly 100,000 lawsuits involving the weed killer. The company still faces about 50,000 Roundup-related claims, Reuters reports.
Glyphosate has also been associated with a host of other health issues, including liver damage, kidney disease, reproductive problems, and birth defects. And it damages plants more than we think. Glyphosate interferes with the plants’ ability to absorb nutrients from the soil, which means our fruits and veggies contain less nutrients. Glyphosate acts as an antibiotic that kills certain good bacteria — which are critical to the health of both the soil and our digestive systems. Because it acts like an antibiotic, Glyphosate can destroy the gut microbiome, killing the healthy bacteria in our bodies and causing dysbiosis. Glyphosate led to the depletion of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in studies and increased proinflammatory cells and markers of intestinal inflammation. When gut function, immune system development and brain development are all happening before the age of 5, this poses a major problem to the health of our children because the health of these three systems all start with the microbiome.
Toxins do not create “one-off” effects on the body where they cause damage and then move on. Toxins bio-accumulate. They add up. So when children play in a yard that has been sprayed with glyphosate, and then eat some cheerios for breakfast and conventional strawberries with Tropicana Orange Juice, day after day, year after year, they have 3x as much Glyphosate as they had prior. But that’s not how math works in toxicology. 1 toxin in the body does not just provide 1 toxic effect and then add a second toxin in and get a second toxic effect. Because of how your body works and its capacity for handling toxins — the introduction of a second toxin multiplies it. As toxins increase in numbers, their effect is exponential. You can see this represented in chronic disease, auto-immune disease and chronic inflammation. It’s not just Glyphosate. It’s Glyphosate, and plastics, parabens, heavy metals, chemicals, and other toxins.
These toxins enter our bodies, more and more every year, and build up, causing a myriad of issues on a gradually rising basis. 50 years ago humans could get by with the small amount there was, but that point is long past. The toxic load entering our bodies every year is far higher than even ten years ago. Our bodies are constantly removing toxins that come in, but they can’t do it fast enough, so the toxins build up. And the more toxins build up, the less our bodies are able to remove them. We need to be pro-active in preventing as many toxins as we can from entering our bodies, but also in actively ridding ourselves of them.
Bile, which helps our bodies efficiently eliminate toxins, travels through the liver, our main detoxification organ, eventually exiting through the common hepatic duct and into the gallbladder, where it is concentrated and stored. Our bile contains all of the toxins our bodies need to get rid of such as pesticides, herbicides like Glyphosate, hormones like estrogen, heavy metals like mercury, lead and arsenic, phthalates, parabens and more! The gallbladder is like the garbage can for the liver, it will be carrying some nasty compounds! Many of these compounds like estrogen, mercury, and GMO pesticides require methylation to be fully detoxified. People with MTHFR genetics and an imbalanced methylation cycle are going to run out of methyl groups faster than other people. When someone runs out of methylation groups for their body’s biochemistry, the gallbladder will start to malfunction. This can present as kidney stones, gas, nausea, indigestion, diarrhea or floating stools.
So how do you avoid all of this disease and dysfunction? It can be hard! But follow these tips below:
start paying attention to what ingredients your food contains, including what your beef, chicken, pork, fish and eggs were fed prior to you consuming them!
buy organic, especially corn, soy, wheat, sugar and oats
buy non gmo products
look for glyphosate free products (marked)
drink filtered water from a reputable water filter - not just a Brita or your fridge filter
request filtered water at restaurants
filter your shower and bath water
avoid being barefoot or close contact with grass that has been chemically treated and golf courses
exercise / sweat often
incorporate more detoxification strategies like sauna and get tested with an environmental toxin test
avoid eating out / getting take out as most restaurants don’t use organic ingredients and in fact use the cheapest ingredients possible to cut costs and increase margins
Studies show that switching to an all-organic diet can reduce the amount of glyphosate in your body by a whopping 70% in about a week. But even if you’re eating an all organic diet, you’re still being exposed to glyphosate and other toxins, which is why it’s so important to detoxify your body regularly. Unclear how to go about doing so? Send me an email meredith@thenutritiousnapp.com and we can test your levels as well as create a plan to safely get rid of any toxins you may be personally struggling with. Because as you can see below, its not a matter of if you’ve ever been exposed, its a matter of how much and how it’s affecting you!
Below are some of the top food sources that are contaminated with Glyphosate:
Granola by Quaker, KIND, Back to Nature, Nature Valley
Instant oats by Giant, Quaker, Umpqua, Market Pantry
Whole oats by Quaker, Bob’s Red Mill, Nature’s Path, Whole Foods
Cereal by Kashi, Kellogg’s, including Lucky Charms and Cheerios
Snack bars by Quaker, KIND, Nature Valley, Kellogg’s
Orange juice by Tropicana, Minute Maid, Signature Farms, Kirkland
Crackers, including Cheez-Its, Ritz, Triscuits, Goldfish
Cookies by Annie’s, Kashi, and Nabisco (Oreos)
Chips by Stacy’s, Lay’s, Doritos, Fritos
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
Non-organic cotton products like tampons and clothing
