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The Case:  

• Jessica has Hashimoto’s Disease and can’t seem to balance her thyroid
• Her doctors say her levels are fine but she’s experiencing bloating, fatigue, hair loss, GI issues, and brain fog.
• She met with several doctors but none were able to address her concerns. 

The Investigation

When I met Jessica, I knew that we had to go beyond supporting the thyroid, we had to slow or stop the attack on her immune system. There are many triggers and Jessica had already cut out gluten. This was great but that told me we had to dig deeper. 

I noticed that Jessica came from a family of farmers and had quite a bit of exposure. Figuring out her specific triggers was how we were going to solve her autoimmune mystery. 

Autoimmune Triggers and Glyphosate

I talk a lot about the four most common triggers for autoimmune disease and they are: stress, toxins, infections and foods. There is one thing that intersects with all four of these triggers - glyphosate. To explain it fully, I invited Jeffrey Smith on the show. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and Protect Nature Now. He’s also a bestselling author, award-winning filmmaker, and an in-demand speaker. I could think of nobody better to explain what’s going on for those with autoimmune disease and even for those who do not have an autoimmune disease. 

What is Glyphosate?

Glyphosate is the main ingredient found in Roundup (a herbicide) created by Monsanto which is now owned by Bayer. This chemical has been found (in a US lawsuit) to have contributed to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and cancer. It has also been linked to more than 30 diseases. It was originally patented as a descaler for industrial builders because it chelates minerals. When it gets into the human body, it also grabs minerals from our system and prevents these minerals from doing their work in keeping us healthy. 

How are we Exposed to Roundup and Glyphosate?

Since the late 1990’s, Roundup has been used on human food including genetically modified crops such as soy, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets, and alfalfa. These GMO crops are engineered to be Roundup-ready which means they can withstand it. Other crops that are often sprayed are oats, wheat, mung beans, lentils, chickpeas, and even orchard fruits and grapes used for wine. It is found throughout the food chain. 

Effects of Glyphosate Exposure

There are many ways that glyphosate exposure can affect the body, including: 

• Mineral deficiencies (which can cause metabolic pathways to shut down)
• Acts as an antibiotic that kills off the beneficial bacteria in our microbiome. 
• Can break down the cellular walls of our gut, brain, kidneys, or other organs in the body
• Can damage and mutate the DNA which can lead to cancer. 
• Can damage the mitochondria which has been linked to chronic fatigue, cancer, aging, and several other diseases.
• Interferes with intercellular communication causing gap junctions (also linked to cancer).
• Blocks the production of good gut bacteria.
• Can throw off hormonal balance between estrogen and testosterone. 
• Acts as an endocrine disruptor. 
• Can cause epigenetic changes in gene expression in future generations.
• Suppresses cellular detoxification pathways and downgrades Nrf2.

How Can Glyphosate Trigger Autoimmune Disease?

Several of the effects listed above can then contribute to the development of an autoimmune disease. Jeffrey points to GMOs and BT toxin. BT toxin works by creating tiny holes in the insects and that is how it acts as an insecticide. While this can help grow those plans, it can also have the same effect on human cells. This is why he believes that leaky gut can be directly related to BT toxins and that leaky gut can lead to a variety of autoimmune diseases because the gut is now allowing bigger proteins that don’t below in the bloodstream, directly into the bloodstream and the immune system starts to see these as an invader and attacks them. The thing is that when the  immune system attacks them, it can also by accident attack our other tissues.  For example, in the case of Hashimoto’s, the immune system is attacking the thyroid because it’s mistaking it as an intruder.

Because the gap junctions are permanently open due to leaky gut, more and more proteins get into the bloodstream and this creates a lot of inflammation.  Scientific studies have found that lab animals fed GMOs will develop inflammation and issues with the immune system, leaky gut, and the destruction of the good bacteria in the gut.

Diseases That May Be Linked to Glyphosate and GMO Foods

Jeffrey shares that correlational charts show a rise of specific diseases in parallel with the increased use of glyphosate on soy and corn in the US as well as the increased prevalence of genetically modified soy and corn. The specific diseases that appear in the correlation include:

• Inflammatory Bowel Disease 
• Deaths from intestinal infection
• Liver disease
• Various cancers (liver, bile duct, kidney, breast)
• Autism
• ADHD 
• Deaths from Alzheimer's
• Deaths from Senile Dementia
• Deaths from Parkinson's 
• Anxiety
• Suicide by overdosing 
• Schizophrenia
• Celiac disease
• Insomnia and other Sleep Disorders
• Skin problems
• Birth defects
• Eye problems
• Diabetes
• Obesity 
• Stroke and Hypertension
• Anemia

While of course correlation does not prove causation, Jeffery says that he’s seen the correlations first hand. He recently surveyed 3256 people who switched to an organic diet and they reported that they felt better. In fact, 85.2% said their digestive issues were resolved. They also reported improvements in fatigue, weight problems, brain fog, anxiety, depression, food sensitivities and allergies. In addition, 21.4% of respondents reported improvements with their autoimmune diseases. 

Additional Threats from Engineered Microbes

We often focus on the microbes in our gut but the atmosphere is full of microbes. And, all of these different microbes belong to microbiomes. For example, there is a microbiome in the dirt, in trees, in other organisms, and in the atmosphere. The threat to these microbiomes (and our own) comes from genetically engineered microbes. Microbes can mutate, swap genetic material, and travel around the world. This is how an engineered microbe created for one purpose could end up inside the DNA of hundreds or thousands of other types of microbes and enter the ecosystems with unknown effect.  Jeffrey is trying to stop the release of engineered microbes and has created a film about the threat. You can watch “Don’t Let the Gene Out of the Bottle” on his website protectnaturenow.com

How to Avoid Glyphosate, BT and GMO Foods

Jeffrey gets asked all the time about how to avoid these harmful chemicals. Is going organic enough given the exposure so many of us have already experienced? Jeffrey says it is possible to heal from GMO and Glyphosate exposure but it’s more than just switching to organic. You will likely need to remineralize, restore your leaky gut, heal the mitochondria and rebalance hormones (especially if there are sleep issues causing anxiety or depression). The good news is that reducing the GMO and Glyphosate burden has he...