Enzymes instigate or accelerate the rate of reactions occurring within cells. Specific enzymes help cut large molecules into manageable pieces for easier absorption; others stitch molecules together to form new ones. Each enzyme may play but a small part in a constrained reaction, but the range of bodily functions enzymes affect is wide and vital to life. One family of enzymes disrupted by glyphosate, the CYP enzymes, detoxifies harmful substances--alcohol or rotted food or toxic mushrooms--that we consume. Other functions include activating vitamin D for bones and immunity and producing bile for digestion.
Our bodies need certain minerals but cannot produce them, so they must come from elsewhere, usually diet. Manganese may be the most important mineral you've never heard of, involved as it is in bones and connective tissue, blood and sex hormones, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, blood-sugar control, brain and neural function--even feeding your biome. We get manganese from food (food that has not been exposed to glyphosate, which binds manganese at the pH of typical plant cells). Once we've met our needs for manganese the liver diverts the excess into bile acids, from which our gut bacteria derive their share. But making manganese-flavored bile acids hinges on CYP enzymes, which are incapacitated by glyphosate. Thus gut bacteria that require it are deprived of manganese while a surfeit of it swamps the liver.
Certain species of gut bacteria such as beneficial Lactobacillus use manganese to protect against oxidative damage, which ups their need for it; well-functioning Lactobacilli retain generous helpings of the mineral within their cells. Lactobacilli prefer the portion of the small intestine where pH is higher and acidity lower, which happens to be where glyphosate's chelation of manganese is greatest. In the presence of glyphosate, manganese availability in the small intestine may be reduced by half. Deprived of manganese most Lactobacilli do not survive. Thus, glyphosate's chelation of manganese reduces the population of these beneficial bacteria. The gut-brain axis translates this reduction of good bacteria into anxiety.
Why anxiety? Some Lactobacilli produce the inhibitory neurotransmitter Î �-aminobutyric acid (GABA), thought to relieve anxiety. Mice given Lactobacillus probiotics show changes in GABAergic expression in brain regions involved with mood. These effects are absent in mice whose body-to-brain vagus nerve is severed.
A major part of the gut's proper functioning is to act as a barrier between what passes through the gut and what remains without. Roundup changes the microbiome, hampering its proper function. When unhealthy bacteria start to predominate the stage is set for leaky gut, which allows substances into places they should not be. These incursions alert the immune system, which declares war.
Glyphosate prevents enzymes from doing their work; it renders unavailable essential minerals; it inhibits and kills good bacteria while sparing bad--certain pathogenic bacteria thrive in the presence of glyphosate. Celiac disease, allergies, irritable-bowel syndrome, autism, obesity, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and a host of other debilitating chronic conditions are on the rise. So is our exposure to Roundup. This correlation invites consideration.
According to the World Health Organization, glyphosate is a probable carcinogen, and it is everywhere. Our unthinking embrace of imbalance is reflected on our cutting boards.
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Three years ago scientists published a paper revealing ways in which glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup(R), impacts physiology through its effects on manganese, an important but often overlooked nutrient. We are told that humans are not affected by glyphosate. In fact we are, in a multitude of ways. The paper from which much of this summary was derived was published in the journal Surgery Neurology International.
Sources:
This article primarily summarizes this paper:
Samsel, A, and Seneff, S: "Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies." Surg Neurol Int. 2015; 6:45. .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392553/#
Other references include:
Birch, Jenna. "5 Facts That Will Convince You to Actually Care About Your Gut Bacteria." Self Health, 2016. click here
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