The organic diet frees the body from glyphosate in just a few days. The evidence first emerges in a scientific study just published in Environmental Research. (1) Food is confirmed to be the first source of exposure to poisonous herbicide for populations not subject to the so-called drift effect. And yet it is children – who are the most exposed to glyphosate – get rid of it less easily.
A systematic review
Researchers they analyzed urine samples from four American families of different ethnicities living in places very distant from each other. In a first 5-day cycle, the 16 participants in the study consumed only food from conventional agriculture, where the use of pesticides, herbicides and other agrotoxicants is allowed. Over the next 5 days, they followed a diet based exclusively on organic food.
The analysis of the urine samples – 158 overall – showed an average reduction of 5% of glyphosate and 70,93% of its metabolite AMPA (aminomethylphosphonic acid) after 76,71 days of an organic diet.
More contaminated children
The lowering of contamination levels was more marked in adults than in children: on average, 71,59% versus 70,85% for glyphosate, 83,53% versus 69,85% for AMPA. Furthermore, in younger people, the concentration of glyphosate and AMPA in the urine has remained increasingly high compared to adults: four times more during the conventional diet, six times more during the period of exclusively organic feeding. (2)
The greatest vulnerability of children (as well as infants and fetuses) to exposure to agrotoxicants is well known, as is their lower ability to metabolize them. (3) In the study under examination, the researchers also hypothesized the presence of other causes, such as a lower adherence to the organic diet (although the food diaries excluded it) and the greater probability of environmental exposure to glyphosate, also sprayed to weed the school gardens and parks. All alarming circumstances, also considering the impact of glyphosate on reproductive function.
The toxicity of glyphosate
On the danger of glyphosate there is now one copious scientific literature which highlights its neurological toxicity and reproductive function (Mesnage et al., 2015). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), analyzing a thousand studies, in 2015 classified it as a probable human carcinogen. (4)
AMPA, a still poorly studied metabolite of glyphosate, has been found to be genotoxic to human cells in culture (Mañas et al., 2009) and in some fish studies (Guilherme et al., 2014). And the evaluation of theirs is only just beginning effects on the intestinal microbiome, on which the efficiency of the immune system depends among other things.
Organic diet, the proven benefits
The role of the organic diet minimizing exposure to pesticide residues in food had already been demonstrated in the first part of the study under review. Research published in 2019 (Hyland et al.) found significant reductions in urinary levels of 13 pesticide metabolites (organophosphate insecticides, neonicotinoids and pyrethroids and the herbicide 2,4-D) as a consequence of adopting an organic food diet.
The health benefits associated with the consumption of organic foods are increasingly evident in the scientific literature. In addition to strengthening the immune system, as has already been shared, organic products play a role in the prevention of serious and incurable diseases.
‘A survey of nearly 70.000 adults reported that the increased frequency of organic food consumption was related to a reduced incidence of various cancers (Baudry et al., 2018). Other studies have reported decreased diabetes risk (Sun et al., 2018) and improved fertility treatment outcomes (Chiu et al., 2018) associated with a higher frequency of organic food consumption ‘(1).
THE POWER OF THE CONSUMERS
Italy it could be the protagonist of a transformation of agriculture of sure and evident benefit for the health of consumers and populations residing in areas adjacent to those cultivated. As well as to preserve biodiversity and the environment.
The implementation of the Bio 2030 Manifesto it also depends on us consumers, since our demand for organic food from short supply chain it is the greatest force capable of imposing the variation of the offer.
