How Pesticides Scramble Your Immune System
In today’s fast-changing world, immune support is a top priority for all of us. The last thing any of us wants to do is damage our body’s precious defense system. But there’s a chance you may be doing exactly that when you take a bite of your next meal — even if it’s made with organic food.
The unfortunate truth is that toxic pesticides and agricultural chemicals are so widely used that they end up everywhere. It’s called “pesticide drift” and it means that these health-robbing poisons wind up places they shouldn’t, including organic farms, non-GMO ingredients, and even inside your body.
The “Toxic Soup Effect” on Your Immune Function
Your immune system is a carefully balanced, precision-tuned network of powerful players. When running smoothly, it can tackle a problem quickly and retreat when no longer needed —so you don’t get an immune over-reaction, like an inflammatory autoimmune flare-up.
But the truth is, your body didn’t evolve to handle the barrage of toxins you battle every day in the modern environment. This collective accumulation of environmental chemicals has been termed “toxic soup.” The findings that are emerging around this “toxic soup effect” are not looking good, especially when it comes to immunity.
Pesticides Disrupt Cytokine Balance
Immune cells — and the complex communication signals they send out, called cytokines — are especially sensitive to pesticides and other toxins. Specifically, human data shows that pesticide exposure affects your immune system by disturbing the delicate balance of cytokines.
Research shows that certain pesticides fuel the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, like TNF-alpha, Interleukin 6, and others. Other pesticides disrupt the balance of cytokines that help regulate immune response and prevent immune overreactions.
A cytokine storm is a severe immune reaction that occurs when the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. While cytokines are important for normal immune responses, releasing a large amount of them at once can be harmful. So, you can see why keeping cytokines in balance is crucial for optimal health.
Gut Health, Immunity and Glyphosate
Exposure to pesticides and agricultural chemicals spells bad news for the good bacteria in your gut. The worst offender is glyphosate, the most widely used agricultural chemical in the US.
Glyphosate is especially bad for your microbiome—the delicate ecosystem of friendly flora in your gut. Friendly bacteria play vital roles in nourishing and optimizing your immune system. But glyphosate reduces the diversity and health of these bacteria, effectively derailing your immune system—while at the same time, creating an environment for nasty microbes to take over.
Is Glyphosate Really That Bad?
In a word, yes. Everyone is exposed to pesticides — no matter where you live. Virtually every major conventional food crop grown in the U.S. gets doused with glyphosate, usually in combination with other pesticides.
Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in the world. That’s true even after more than 21 countries banned its use, including Canada, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Greece, and Mexico.
Here, glyphosate is routinely sprayed on golf courses, playgrounds, and school lawns? If you live in a flat part of the U.S., glyphosate can travel through the air for miles across the plains.
Another big problem — chemical companies generally combine pesticides for more complete coverage against weeds and pests. Unfortunately, these combinations make glyphosate even more toxic. Glyphosate is often paired with other toxins such as Atrazine, Dicamba, and 2,4-D.
Foods and crops highest in glyphosate (with soy being the highest): soy; corn; cotton; wheat; oranges; sorghum; almonds; grapes; sugar beets; sunflowers; rice; walnuts; canola oil; and pistachios.
Targeted Pesticide Detox and Defense: 4 Helpful Nutrients
You now know that you can’t avoid pesticides, even if you follow a squeaky clean, organic diet. But you can protect your body from the impacts of pesticides like glyphosate for a healthier, more robust immune system.
Certain nutrients help bind, neutralize, and remove key pesticides from the body, as well as help reduce the amount of toxins stored in your cells.
1. Icelandic Kelp
Icelandic kelp helps protect and nourish your thyroid, a delicate organ that’s especially vulnerable to damage from toxins. Kelp also supplies a wealth of trace minerals to replace the nutrients that get stripped out of your body by glyphosate.*
2. Citrus Pectin
Citrus pectin binds to toxins so they can be safely removed from your body. It also functions as a prebiotic, which helps nourish your body’s population of good bacteria.*
3. Glycine
Glycine promotes the production of glutathione, your body’s master antioxidant, to counter free radicals created by toxins. Glycine also offers strong liver support, protects against leaky gut, and encourages gut health. Those actions help neutralize the effects of pesticide exposure, especially for the liver and gut.*
4. Alginate Complex
Derived from seaweed, alginate complex binds powerfully to chemical toxins and heavy metals. Alginates also form a protective gel, which supports the protective intestinal barrier and reduces the risk of leaky gut.*
It might feel impossible to keep up with this barrage of environmental health threats, coming at you from all directions. But it is possible to thrive even in challenging times. With the help of evidence-based nutrients, you can support your immune health and defend your body against pesticide exposure and its damaging effects on health.
GlyphoDetox
GlyphoDetox
The first supplement of its kind to actively detox and defend against pesticides, GlyphoDetox promotes gut health and nutrition with powerful antioxidants and essential detox nutrients.
GlyphoDetox provides advanced detox and defense against pesticides and other agricultural and environmental toxins. Powerful natural detox binders – including Icelandic kelp, citrus pectin, glycine, and Alginate Complex – help safely eliminate pesticides such as glyphosate and block their storage at receptor sites throughout the body.*
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