Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Round Up™ (glyphosate) is a desiccating herbicide use to dry out crops like soy, corn and wheat when they are ripe to prevent mold but it itself perhaps more dangerous than mold… it disrupts human gut health. Despite Monsanto and now Bayer declaring it safe for human consumption, it is now. Read on…
Food & Function issue 15, 2024
Effects of glyphosate exposure on intestinal microbiota, metabolism and microstructure: a systematic review†
Amanda da Cunha Ignácio, a Andressa Maria dos Reis Guerra,a Thaiany Goulart de Souza-Silva, b Mariana Araújo Vieira do Carmo *c and Hudsara Aparecida de Almeida Paula c
Abstract
Glyphosate is the most commercialized herbicide in Brazil and worldwide, and this has become a worrying scenario in recent years. In 2015 glyphosate was classified as potentially carcinogenic by the World Health Organization, which opened avenues for numerous debates about its safe use regarding non-target species’ health, including humans. This review aimed to observe the impacts of glyphosate and its formulations on the gut microbiota, as well as on the gut microstructure and animal metabolism. A systematic review was conducted based on the PRISMA recommendations, and the search for original articles was performed in Pubmed/Medline, Scopus and Web of Science databases. The risk of bias in the studies was assessed using the SYRCLE strategy.
Our findings revealed that glyphosate and its formulations are able to induce intestinal dysbiosis by altering bacterial metabolism, intestinal permeability, and mucus secretion, as well as causing damage to the microvilli and the intestinal lumen. Additionally, immunological, enzymatic and genetic changes were also observed in the animal models. At the metabolic level, damage was observed in lipid and energy metabolism, the circulatory system, cofactor and vitamin metabolism, and replication, repair, and translation processes. In this context, we pointed out that the studies revealed that these alterations, caused by glyphosate-based herbicides, can lead to intestinal and systemic diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.