Glyphosate is a Hepatotoxin and Nephrotoxin
Emerging epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests glyphosate exposure increases incidents of metabolic disease even at the low and legally admissible background levels the general population is exposed to.
A prospective case control study conducted among mother and child pairs of farm worker families who provided urine samples during pregnancy and at ages 5, 14 and 18 years of the child’s life as well as a liver transaminase assessment of the child at age 18 (n = 480) and dietary assessments through structured interviews found that children had higher detection frequencies of glyphosate and its main metabolite AMPA than pregnant mothers with detectable frequencies peaking at age 14. At age 14 higher caloric intake of hot cereal, bread, and fruits and vegetables was associated with higher glyphosate urinary concentrations. Higher AMPA and glyphosate urinary concentrations were associated with significantly more biomarkers of liver inflammation and higher rates of metabolic syndrome. A 2x increase in urinary AMPA concentrations at age 5 and both AMPA and glyphosate concentrations at age 14 were associated with a 50% or greater increased risk of metabolic syndrome at 18 years of age. For childhood overall, a 2x increase in urinary concentrations was associated with a 55% increased risk of metabolic syndrome at age 18 independent of body mass.
An analysis of urinary glyphosate concentration and 9 chronic disease outcomes captured in the 2013-16 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycle (n = 2,492) found that participants had a median urinary glyphosate concentration of 0.36 nanograms/mL just above the limit of detection. Participants in the highest quartile of urinary glyphosate concentrations had a significantly higher risk of having type 2 diabetes.
At least one animal experiment has found that this background level exposure to glyphosate and its main metabolite, AMPA, is also toxic to the liver and kidneys and increases the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
A two year rodent experiment where the treatment group was given water containing glyphosate concentrations of 1 part per billion (50 ng/L or 0.05 mcg/L) found, through a toxicity analysis of tissue and mRNA samples collected after euthanization, that ultra low doses of glyphosate residue within the EU’s admissible background concentration level resulted in liver pathologies in both male and female rats. Male rats had more acute kidney and liver disease than female rats suggesting sex specific toxicity, albeit female rats in the treatment group had 3x more signs of liver pathology than female rats in the control group. The study also found changes in the blood of treatment rats including decreased levels of sodium, chlorine, potassium, and phosphorus and decreased urinary creatinine evidencing kidney impairment. Female rats in the treatment group also had pituitary gland disturbances and 97% higher serum testosterone levels compared to female controls evidencing glyphosate’s endocrine disrupting effects at legally admissible concentrations.
A follow up study conducted on the livers of the euthanized female rats revealed that they developed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease from chronic low dose exposure and confirmed the conclusions of the previous experiment.
Glyphosate exposure even at low legally admissible levels has also been found to disrupt blood sugar metabolism, which is perhaps why the aforementioned study of glyphosate urinary concentrations among participants in the 2013-16 NHNES cycle found a positive association with type 2 diabetes.
An analysis of urinary glyphosate concentration and glucose homeostasis among participants in the 2013-2018 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 2,094) found a significant association between urinary glyphosate concentrations and alkaline phosphatase, a biomarker for several different types of diseases. Participants in the highest quartile of urinary glyphosate concentrations had 4.68% increase in alkaline phosphatase compared to participants in the lowest quartile which is modified by sex, age and obesity. Changes in alkaline phosphatase are associated with changes in glucose homeostasis in a monotonic curve which means higher exposure to glyphosate can lead to abnormal blood glucose levels and thus glucose metabolism abnormalities.