Scary Scientific Findings: Toxicologists' Latest Published Research Reveals Pesticides' Yucky Effects On Human Gut Microbiome

Is it the original sin? Our early evaluations of the herbicide Roundup (a formulation) and glyphosate simply did not "see" the bacteria in our gut as part of our anatomy, and that is why scientists hypothesized (wrongly and bigly) that Roundup was safe for humans, because we did not have that the shikimate pathway, which, AI tells us, 

"is a vital seven-enzyme metabolic route in plants, fungi, and bacteria, responsible for producing essential aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan) and many other crucial aromatic compounds like folates, ubiquinone, and lignins, starting from erythrose-4-phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate. Animals lack this pathway, making it a target for herbicides like glyphosate (which inhibits an enzyme in the pathway) and potential broad-spectrum antibiotics."

While we had discovered that our innate biological physical material does not have the pathway, our gut bacteria does...hence...cancers develop, etc. (We are not so cleverly partitioned in our beings as in our minds.) 

So here we are, and building on this knowledge an A List gang of scientists at Cambridge have allied with the latest AI tool (LLM) to discover, lo and behold, that nature does not compartmentalize things are we have previously thought. 

• Press release about their research (easy to read)

• Journal article of the research (well written, scientific research article)

"A large-scale laboratory screening of human-made chemicals has identified 168 chemicals that are toxic to bacteria found in the healthy human gut. These chemicals stifle the growth of gut bacteria thought to be vital for health.

Most of these chemicals, likely to enter our bodies through food, water, and environmental exposure, were not previously thought to have any effect on bacteria.

Lead scientist Roux said, "We’ve found that many chemicals designed to act only on one type of target, say insects or fungi, also affect gut bacteria." 

The new research tested the effect of 1,076 chemical contaminants on 22 species of gut bacteria in the lab. 

Chemicals that have a toxic effect on gut bacteria include pesticides like herbicides and insecticides that are sprayed onto food crops, and industrial chemicals used in flame retardants and plastics. 

The human gut microbiome is composed of around 4,500 different types of bacteria, all working to keep our body running smoothly. When the microbiome is knocked out of balance there can be wide-ranging effects on our health including digestive problems, obesity, and effects on our immune system and mental health."

The study found that "out of 1,076 compounds in total, 829 were pesticides, 119 were pesticide metabolites, 48 were industrial chemicals, 5 were mycotoxins and 76 were other, pesticide-related compounds."

Another convincing reason to eat (and drink) only organically farmed food and drink.