New Study Results Associate Glyphosate with Liver Disease

Glyphosate with liver disease

SAN DIEGO, CA. – The results of a recent study associate the herbicide glyphosate with liver disease. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, and researchers have found a link between the chemical and harmful conditions of the liver.

A team from the University of California San Diego conducted the study, and the authors recently published their findings in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Glyphosate has been associated for some time with liver disease in animal models, and this team of researchers studied the chemical’s effects on the human liver.

The team looked at glyphosate levels in the urine of patients in two groups: patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and patients without the disease. The researchers concluded that the patients with NASH had much higher amounts of glyphosate residue in their urine than the patients who did not have NASH. The results were true regardless of factors like age, weight, race, and diabetes.

The leader of the study, Paul J. Mills, Ph.D., said that combined with the results of prior animal studies, the findings of this study are suggestive of a link between glyphosate in the food supply and development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Both the use of glyphosate and instances of NAFLD have been on the rise in the last two decades.

Roundup is one of the most common herbicides used around the world for weed control in agriculture. Food products internationally have been exposed to increasing levels of glyphosate since the 1970s, and scientists are starting to understand how the chemical might affect human health. The maker of Roundup, Monsanto, is already named in numerous lawsuits that allege exposure to glyphosate can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.