glyphosate: Guilty as Charged
We eat it, drink it, and breathe it
Numerous environmental chemicals interfere with the body’s ability to properly metabolize Vitamin D into the active form. Due to unavoidable, regular exposure one of these chemicals stands out from the rest: glyphosate, the active ingredient found in Roundup.
This ubiquitous product is currently used on over 70 crops, can be found in animal products due to contaminated feed, and contaminates our air and drinking water. What’s more, unless you are following an extremely restrictive diet, most Americans are consuming multiple doses a day through our daily meals and snacks.
What is the mechanism at work here?
Vitamin D deficiency is endemic in the adolescent, adult, and elderly populations in the US and it has been associated with inflammatory, autoimmune, cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cancer…
Glyphosate, through its disruption of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, interferes with several functions in the liver…The liver depends upon CYP enzymes to activate vitamin D3…
The enzyme that activates vitamin D3, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 1α-hydroxylase (CYP27B1) is a CYP enzyme, and therefore is subject to suppression by glyphosate. Suppression of this activating enzyme by glyphosate could explain the vitamin D3 deficiency epidemic that now exists in the US…
…sun exposure is not sufficient to produce functional vitamin D3 when glyphosate disrupts its activation.
For further references of glyphosates negative impact on CYP enzymes see:
In addition to its direct adverse effect on Vitamin D metabolism glyphosate has been linked via multiple pathways to:
Gut dysbiosis
Metabolic Syndrome
Mitochondrial damage
Nutrient depletion
Endocrine disruption
Neurotoxicity
Cancer
Autoimmunity
Cardiovascular disease
Liver and kidney disease
Reproductive disorders
One doesn’t have to be a sharp tack to notice the parallels between this list and the one found in my previous post (which is part 1 to this current post) where we evaluate the connection between Vitamin D and the majority of chronic medical conditions impacting our modern society. See part 1 here: Vitamin D: A review of systematic reviews
(For a much more detailed take on glyphosate than what I am providing see the article by The Ethical Skeptic: The Urgent Need to Reform the ABCD Seed Cartel Science Around Glyphosate)
How to Reduce Your Glyphosate Load
Avoid/limit all grains, seed oils, and legumes (wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa, corn, lentils, soy products, beans, peanuts, canola oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, peanut oil).
Choose free range and grass feed meats - avoid conventional soy fed animal products.
Through exercise or sauna, sweat every day for 30 mins or more. Be sure to towel off sweat so as not to reabsorb toxins. Shower afterwards.
Supplement with bioactive methylated B vitamins (see my post The Integral Guide to MTHFR Gene Mutations).
Fortunately, the public is catching on.
Glyphosate has been or will soon be banned in at least 10 countries including Mexico, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, and at least 15 others have restricted its use, according to Human Rights Watch. Individual cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Baltimore, Austin, and Portland, have taken action to restrict or ban glyphosate, as have some states. In addition, Bayer announced it would take glyphosate off of store shelves by 2023 to avoid future costly lawsuits related to the chemicals potential to cause cancer.
Other environmental chemicals that disrupt biochemical pathways leading to Vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency:
Air pollution
Phthalates
PCBs
BPA
Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)
Heavy metal exposure
Some prescription medications
See the 2019 review article: Air pollution, environmental chemicals, and smoking may trigger vitamin D deficiency: Evidence and potential mechanisms
For practical advice on how to optimize your health in light of these and other mounting concerns in our modern, hypernovel world please see how to:
Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels
and
In closing, buy organic, support your local organic farmers or grow your own, and filter your water with a quality filtration system such as a 6 stage reverse osmosis system.
Thank you for reading and I welcome your comments below!
This information is not meant to be comprehensive but rather to be used as a foundation and study guide to support your own further research and experimentation. See link below if you’d like to consider personalized fitness & nutrition guidance.
Finally, always consult with a qualified medical and/or nutritional professional well versed in this subject. Maintain regular checkups. Never attempt to self-diagnose.
INTEGRAL FITNESS – UPLIFT YOURSELF AND UPLIFT OTHERS
TO BE HEALTHY, HAPPY AND HELPFUL!
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Awesome work Matt!