Not just the west, but even India is showing a steep rise in people diagnosed with celiac disease and it's associated companion diseases (1, 2).
Although numerous reasons are proposed as to the cause of this increase, nothing conclusive has turned up yet (3). Some of the leading reasons proposed for an increased number of people suffering from Celiac disease are: Increased gluten consumption. (About 90% of the food that we eat today has gluten in some or the other form), Rotavirus infection during childhood, Poor gut biome and some more.
Another reason that is gaining increasing traction as a probable reason for increasing celiac disease is a herbicide called Glyphosate and that is what today's post is about.
Glyphosate is the world's best-selling herbicide- it kills any plant that comes in contact with it. So farmers spray it in their fields before sowing crops to kill all weeds. Not just that, some farmers even spray it on mature crops, because it dries up the plants and makes harvesting and subsequent processing easy (4).
In India, Monsanto is the biggest supplier of Glyphosate and they sell it under the brand name 'Roundup'. Today traces of Roundup are found in nearly all processed food- especially the ones that contain wheat and sugar- Most possible because wheat, sugar and cotton cultivation are the biggest consumers of Glyphosate (5). Not just that, domesticated animals that feed on this dried grass, will have glyphosate residue, which eventually ends up in people who consume their meat. Glyphosate is not present on the surface if the plants, it has to enter the cells of the plant to work- so even washing or any other processing will not take Glyphosate away (6).
New studies have shown that Glyphosate can actually cause Celiac disease. Not just that, when tested in fish (because glyphosate ends up in our rivers) even fish developed symptoms similar to Celiac disease(8, 9).
Other than Celiac disease, Glyphosate is also accused of causing- Attention deficit disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, autism, birth defects, various types of cancers, kidney disease, colitis, depression, diabetes, heart disease, hypothyroidism, liver disease, MS, ALS, Parkinsons and many more (Read this link and the associated studies 10).
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has banned Roundup and UN has declared it a probable carcinogen- but many of us continue consuming it via products made of wheat and sugar and remain oblivious to its hazards. India consumed 35,000 tonnes of Glyphosate in 2015, and the figure is expected to hit 75,000 tonnes in 2024 (11). It seems like gluten is least of wheat's problems- Monsanto meanwhile is awaiting approval for Glyphosate-resistant GMO wheat. Roundup can then be sprayed as the wheat plant grows and cost saved on manual weeding. When this happens imagine the amount of Glyphosate that will end up in our food!
1. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/215079
2. http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v96/n9/full/ajg2001698a.html
3. http://time.com/3511235/gluten-free-celiac-disease/
4. http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/
5. http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/paper_pesticide.pdf
6. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/20/glyphosate-roundup-levels.aspx
8. https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/intox.2013.6.issue-4/intox-2013-0026/intox-2013-0026.xml
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318436/
10. http://www.ecowatch.com/15-health-problems-linked-to-monsantos-roundup-1882002128.html
11. https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/glyphosate-market
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| Increasing Celiac Disease in India. |
Although numerous reasons are proposed as to the cause of this increase, nothing conclusive has turned up yet (3). Some of the leading reasons proposed for an increased number of people suffering from Celiac disease are: Increased gluten consumption. (About 90% of the food that we eat today has gluten in some or the other form), Rotavirus infection during childhood, Poor gut biome and some more.
Another reason that is gaining increasing traction as a probable reason for increasing celiac disease is a herbicide called Glyphosate and that is what today's post is about.
Glyphosate is the world's best-selling herbicide- it kills any plant that comes in contact with it. So farmers spray it in their fields before sowing crops to kill all weeds. Not just that, some farmers even spray it on mature crops, because it dries up the plants and makes harvesting and subsequent processing easy (4).
In India, Monsanto is the biggest supplier of Glyphosate and they sell it under the brand name 'Roundup'. Today traces of Roundup are found in nearly all processed food- especially the ones that contain wheat and sugar- Most possible because wheat, sugar and cotton cultivation are the biggest consumers of Glyphosate (5). Not just that, domesticated animals that feed on this dried grass, will have glyphosate residue, which eventually ends up in people who consume their meat. Glyphosate is not present on the surface if the plants, it has to enter the cells of the plant to work- so even washing or any other processing will not take Glyphosate away (6).
New studies have shown that Glyphosate can actually cause Celiac disease. Not just that, when tested in fish (because glyphosate ends up in our rivers) even fish developed symptoms similar to Celiac disease(8, 9).
Other than Celiac disease, Glyphosate is also accused of causing- Attention deficit disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, autism, birth defects, various types of cancers, kidney disease, colitis, depression, diabetes, heart disease, hypothyroidism, liver disease, MS, ALS, Parkinsons and many more (Read this link and the associated studies 10).
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has banned Roundup and UN has declared it a probable carcinogen- but many of us continue consuming it via products made of wheat and sugar and remain oblivious to its hazards. India consumed 35,000 tonnes of Glyphosate in 2015, and the figure is expected to hit 75,000 tonnes in 2024 (11). It seems like gluten is least of wheat's problems- Monsanto meanwhile is awaiting approval for Glyphosate-resistant GMO wheat. Roundup can then be sprayed as the wheat plant grows and cost saved on manual weeding. When this happens imagine the amount of Glyphosate that will end up in our food!
1. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/215079
2. http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v96/n9/full/ajg2001698a.html
3. http://time.com/3511235/gluten-free-celiac-disease/
4. http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/
5. http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/paper_pesticide.pdf
6. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/20/glyphosate-roundup-levels.aspx
8. https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/intox.2013.6.issue-4/intox-2013-0026/intox-2013-0026.xml
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318436/
10. http://www.ecowatch.com/15-health-problems-linked-to-monsantos-roundup-1882002128.html
11. https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/glyphosate-market
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