A research team from King's College London have uncovered a grim truth about the ever-popular Roundup herbicide: it causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
What is NAFLD?
The liver, as you may know, is the second largest organ in the body. It performs a variety of important bodily functions, including removing harmful substances from your blood. It is normal for the liver to contain some fat cells, but when more than 5 to 10 percent of the organ's mass is made up of fat, it is diagnosed as a fatty liver.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease refers to an overabundance of fat cells that have accumulated in the liver, due to causes not related to alcohol. NAFLD most commonly develops in people who are overweight or obese, diabetic, or have poor blood lipid profiles. Poor eating habits and abrupt weight loss can also contribute to the disease. It has been seen in people who do not meet any of these risk factors, like marathon runner Nick Giordano.
NAFLD may lead to inflammation of the liver, tissue scarring that contributes to the onset of cirrhosis, and may also lead to liver cancer or liver failure.
Glyphosate causes NAFLD
To conduct their two-year study, the research team from London exposed rats to levels of glyphosate on par with doses that are currently approved by regulators. Their results were the first to show a direct causal link between glyphosate consumption at an extremely low dose and the onset of a disease. (Keep up with the latest headlines about Roundup at Glyphosate.news)
In their conclusion, the study authors, who were led by Dr. Michael Antoniou, declared, "Overall, metabolome and proteome disturbances showed a substantial overlap with biomarkers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and its progression to steatohepatosis and thus confirm liver functional dysfunction resulting from chronic ultra-low dose glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH) exposure."
Toxicity studies in rats are generally accepted by regulators as good indicators of what ill effects a substance may have on human health -- so it is clear that this study demonstrates the very real threat that glyphosate poses for humans. (RELATED: See more news about chemical pesticides at Pesticides.news)
Roundup is presently the most ubiquitous herbicide used across the country; it has permeated our food supply indefinitely. Traces of this toxic substance have even been been found in rainwater and air samples. It's in our food, our tap water, and glyphosate residues have even been seen in breast milk and baby food. The FDA has admitted to finding shocking amounts of glyphosate in popular foods. (Related: Learn more about contaminates in our food and water here.
“New testing conducted by an FDA-registered food safety lab found alarming levels of the chemical glyphosate (known as Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer) in several very common foods. This independent research reveals that many popular foods have over 1000 times the glyphosate levels that have been established to be harmful," reports the Waking Times. (Related: Stay current on FDA issues, policies and research at FDA.news)
And yet, this study shows that doses of glyphosate that are far below the currently approved amount here in the United States can cause NAFLD. The researchers exposed the rats to amounts of glyphosate equivalent to 4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day -- an amount well below the EU's mandated 0.3mg per kilogram of body weight per day -- and it still caused major health problems. Imagine what kind of damage the US's allotted 1.75 mg per kilogram of body weight can do!
The research team noted, "The results showed that Roundup caused an increased incidence in signs of anatomical pathologies, as well as changes in urine and blood biochemical parameters suggestive of liver and kidney functional insufficiency."
Dr. Antoniou added, "Our results also suggest that regulators should reconsider the safety evaluation of glyphosate-based herbicides."
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