I started reading this paper [1] on the effects of glyphosphate and quickly realized that I'm way out of my depth here. The claim they make is very bold, basically that glyphosphate inhibits a critical enzyme (Cytochrome p450), ultimately leading to many of our modern diseases through a process that damages gut microbes.<p>While I'm not a fan of glyphosphate or the model of agriculture it supports (for other reasons not relevant here), I don't know anywhere near enough about biochemistry to know whether there's any merit to this paper's conclusions. Are there others in this community who can shed some light on this?<p>[1] http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416
Well, Cyto P450 is involved in the detoxification of drugs such as dextromethorphan. Two important things about it are: (1) it is possible to overwhelm P450 activity which will slow down the metabolism of other P450-metabolized drugs (drug interactions) and (2) a big chunk of the population (I think 10-20%) have insufficient P450 function and they metabolize P450-toxins slower than most other people.<p>Of course the dose makes the poison. It's not a good idea to guzzle roundup. It's not particularly persistent and I don't think you're at a risk of eating it from food or spraying roundup to kill a weed now and then.