The organic diet rids the body of glyphosate in just a few days. The evidence emerges for the first time in a scientific study just published in Environmental Research. (1) Food is confirmed to be the primary source of exposure to the herbicide poison for populations not subject to the so-called drift effect. And yet it is precisely children – who are the most exposed to glyphosate – who get rid of it the least easily.
The study
The researchers analyzed urine samples from four U.S. families of different ethnicities residing in widely separated locations. In an initial 5-day cycle, the 16 study participants consumed only foods from conventional agriculture, where the use of pesticides, herbicides and other agrotoxics is permitted. Over the next 5 days, they followed a diet based exclusively on organic foods.
Analysis of urine samples-a total of 158-found after 5 days on the organic diet an average reduction of 70.93 percent in glyphosate and 76.71 percent in its metabolite AMPA (aminomethylphosphonic acid).
Most contaminated children
The lowering of contamination levels was more pronounced in adults than in children: on average, 71.59% versus 70.85% for glyphosate, 83.53% versus 69.85% for AMPA. In younger children, moreover, the concentration of glyphosate and AMPA in urine remained consistently higher compared to adults: four times higher during the conventional diet, six times higher during the period of exclusively organic feeding. (2)
The increased vulnerability of children (as well as infants and fetuses) to exposure to agrotoxics is well known, as is their decreased ability to metabolize them. (3) In the study under review, the researchers also hypothesized the presence of other causes, such as lower adherence to the organic diet (although food diaries excluded it) and higher likelihood to environmental exposure to glyphosate, also sprayed to weed school gardens and parks. These are all alarming circumstances, given also the impact of glyphosate on reproductive function.
The toxicity of glyphosate
On the dangerousness of glyphosate, there is now a copious scientific literature highlighting its neurological and reproductive function toxicity (Mesnage et al., 2015). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), analyzing a thousand studies, classified it as a probable human carcinogen in 2015. (4)
AMPA, a metabolite of glyphosate that has yet to be studied, 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 their effects on the gut microbiome, on which the efficiency of the immune system, among other things, depends, is only in its infancy.
Organic diet, the proven benefits
The role of the organic diet in 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.) had found significant reductions in urinary levels of 13 pesticide metabolites (organophosphate insecticides, neonicotinoids and pyrethroids, and the herbicide 2,4-D) as a result of adopting an organic food diet.
The health benefits associated with organic food consumption are increasingly evident in the scientific literature. In addition to strengthening the immune system, as already shared, organic products play a role in preventing serious and incurable diseases.
‘A survey of nearly 70,000 adults reported that increased frequency of organic food consumption was correlated with reduced incidence of various types of cancer (Baudry et al., 2018). Other studies have reported decreased risk of diabetes (Sun et al., 2018) and improved fertility treatment outcomes (Chiu et al., 2018) associated with increased frequency of organic food consumption’ (1).
The power of consumAtors
Italy could play a leading role in a transformation of agriculture of definite and overt benefit to the health of consumers and populations living in areas adjacent to those being farmed. As well as to preserve biodiversity and the environment.
The implementation of the Organic 2030 Manifesto also depends on us consumAtors, as our demand for organic food from short supply chains is the greatest force that can force supply variation.
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Notes
1) John Fagan, Larry Bohlen, Sharyle Patton, Kendra Klein. Organic dietary intervention significantly reduces urinary glyphosate levels in U.S. children and adults. Environmental Research, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109898 The study is funded by Friends of the Earth USA
2) The average level of glyphosate detected in the urine of children during the conventional diet phase was 1.03 ng/mL, with peaks of 6.22 ng/mL, while in adults the levels averaged 0.26 ng/mL with a maximum of 0.82 ng/mL. During the organic diet period, values averaged 0.25 ng/mL with a maximum of 2.80 ng/mL in children, and 0.04 ng/mL with a maximum of 0.91 ng/mL in adults
3) Karen Huen, Kim Harley, Asa Bradman, Brenda Eskenazi, Nina Holland (2010). Longitudinal changes in PON1 enzymatic activities in Mexican-American mothers and children with different genotypes and haplotypes. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2009.12.031
4) V. IARC Monograph on Glyphosate https://www.iarc.fr/featured-news/media-centre-iarc-news-glyphosate/
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
