Is Roundup Really the Culprit in the Worldwide Obesity Epidemic?

Roundup's fat-enhancing effects are not limited to the brain, Seneff says. Changes in the kinds and numbers of bacteria in the colon caused by the glyphosate in Roundup increase inflammation. When inflammation increases, a specialized kind of white cell known as a macrophage becomes more active. Macrophages patrol the bloodstream looking for bacteria, parasites, and dead cells, fueling themselves by burning cholesterol.

When inflammation in belly fat increases, however, these white blood cells migrate en masse to fat tissue and become "stuck" in the bends and corners of blood vessels. They live our their life cycles in fat, increasing fat mass, and die. Then other macrophages come along to clear them out, but also get stuck, the cycle going on and on so that these white blood cells can constitute to 30% of the bulk of fat around the waist and on the hips.

Even worse, Seneff believes, the glyphosate in Roundup changes the fat in food into a carrier for toxins. Other toxins from food are attached to particles of dietary fat called chylomicrons, and are absorbed into the body through the liver. The liver in turn has to use so many of its detoxifying enzymes neutralizing Roundup that it cannot detoxify other harmful substances from food and the environment.

Not Just Obesity

Seneff sees similar patterns in human metabolism that are altered by Roundup that could be responsible for the worldwide epidemic of autism. She eloquently explains a chemical pathway through which Rounup could intiate or aggravate Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, atherosclerosis, depression, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), anorexia, liver failure, and Alzheimer's disease. However, Dr. Seneff describes her work as a "novel hypothesis," not as proven science.

Is Dr. Seneff Right?

I personally am no fan on Monsanto. If I were investing, I would not own stock in Monsanto. I don't buy their products. I am in favor of labeling their products.

But I recognize that Dr. Seneff's work is exactly what she says it is, a novel hypothesis. Dr. Seneff is criticized for publishing outside her field (in an interdisciplinary journal called Entropy), but I don't see that as a reason to ignore her. The simple fact is that right now, what Dr. Seneff is describing simply is something that very well could be happening. We don't know for a scientific certainty in cause and effect terms that it is.

But should we be taking the chance?