Glyphosate: The Out of Control Weed Killer

Unlike phytates, lectins and histamines, glyphosate is an obstacle that we have created for ourselves. It's an artificial herbicide (weed killer) that is ubiquitous in modern farming. The agricultural industry insists that glyphosate is completely harmless to humans. Glyphosate is currently approved for use in Europe [1]  and is approved for use in the UK until, at the earliest, December 2025 [2].

In reality, glyphosate is a toxin that accumulates in fat and neurological tissues. Now we know that glyphosate disrupts the gut microbiome[3], the healthy bacteria that live in your intestines, and has been tied to certain types of cancer [4]. Nevertheless, it is still used extensively.

More concerning is that glyphosate has been shown to modify your mitochondrial membrane and decrease your energy production [5]. Anything that lowers your energy level also reduces your willpower. Specifically, glyphosate can switch your brain cells from aerobic (powerful) metabolism to anaerobic (less powerful) [6]. Glyphosate harmed energy production in human kidney cells and is another anti nutrient that binds to essential minerals iron copper zinc manganese calcium and magnesium.

In other words, glyphosate decreases your energy production which increases your physical sense of anxiety and stress and leaves you with fewer resources to work with.

In addition to using glyphosate to kill weeds farmers spray it on crops near the end of the growing season because it causes the wheat to ripen early at a time that they can schedule. Glyphosate kills the plant, so the plant puts its last burst of energy into protecting its seeds by rushing to make all the wheat grains ripen before it dies. The problem is, the glyphosate then continues its journey into the foods that we eat. It also destroys top soil by killing the bacteria that normally cycle carbon and renew the soils organic chemistry. Perhaps this will stop at the end of 2025 but the companies that make glyphosate and the farmers who use it have a pretty powerful lobby and it remains to be seen if there will be another extension to the legal use of this product.

We can, however, make the decision now  to steer clear of foods that were made with glyphosate treated crops. Unfortunately, glyphosate isn't easy to avoid. Choosing organic food is a good first step, but farmers spray so much that many organic foods contain concerning amounts of glyphosate. Since grains usually contain the highest amounts of glyphosate residues [7], cutting down the amount of them that you eat is the most effective way to start. If a grain isn’t organic, don't eat it.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2017/2324/oj

[2] https://naturaler.co.uk/is-glyphosate-banned-uk/?cn-reloaded=1

[3] https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP6990

[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1383574218300887

[5] https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8859649/#R86

[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2157305

[7] https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/glyphosate-contamination-food-goes-far-beyond-oat-products