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Glyphosate Implicated in Sleep Issues

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in herbicide RoundUp sprayed on wheat, corn, soy etc, causes a host of problems in the human body. Here we just discuss one, which is that glyphosate is implicated in abnormal sleep pattern due to pineal gland dysfunction.

This waswas mentioned by Dr. Stephanie Seneff in the Live To 100 podcast …

If you want to protect yourself against glyphosate, eat organic and avoid wheat. Watch the other tips in the video.

For a greater deep dive into the biochemistry, read her paper Aluminum and Glyphosate Can Synergistically Induce Pineal Gland Pathology: Connection to Gut Dysbiosis and Neurological Disease.

The paper explains how aluminum and glyphosate can work synergistically to cause neurological issues. Quoting from the paper…

“Glyphosate chelates aluminum, allowing ingested aluminum to bypass the gut barrier. This leads to anemia-induced hypoxia, promoting neurotoxicity and damaging the pineal gland. Both glyphosate and aluminum disrupt cytochrome P450 enzymes, which are involved in melatonin metabolism. Furthermore, melatonin is derived from tryptophan, whose synthesis in plants and microbes is blocked by glyphosate. We also demonstrate a plausible role for vitamin D3 dysbiosis in impaired gut function and impaired serotonin synthesis. “

The pineal gland is what produces melatonin at night. It is outside of the blood brain barrier and has a lot of blood going through it. Therefore it is vulnerable to toxins. As a side note, fluoride is also damaging to the pineal gland.

Aluminum, a known brain toxicant, accumulates in the pineal twice as much as other brain regions.

From the paper …

“We do not mean to imply that pineal gland dysfunction is the only neuropathology following aluminum exposure, but we believe it plays a significant role, as sleep disorder is associated with most neurological diseases.”

and …

“strong correlation between glyphosate application to corn and soy and multiple neurological disorders”

It gets worst when glyphosate is used in combination with other ingredients in RoundUp.

Genetically modified corn and soy contains glyphosate because the genetical modification makes them able to live in the presence of RoundUp. So farmer can spray these crops with RoundUp as much as they like and the corn and soy still survive. However, the glyphosate gets into the corn and soy product (not just on the surface). And when we eat GMO corn and soy, we are eating glyphosate, which then shuts down the shikimate pathway of our beneficial bacteria so that they are not able to produce helpful compounds for us such as B vitamins, etc.

The paper explains …

“Glyphosate is a microbicide, and it preferentially kills beneficial gut bacteria, allowing pathogens like Clostridium difficile to overgrow. “

More importantly, tryptophan is a product of our beneficial gut bacteria’s shikimate pathway that is interrupted by glyphosate. Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin and melatonin.

The glyphosate also chelates aluminum and carries aluminum throughout the body including to the pineal gland.

The paper writes …

“the cows were dissected and glyphosate residues in the tissues of the kidney, liver, lung, spleen, muscles and intestines were comparable to that found in the urine”

And that…

“Sulfation of melatonin depends on cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, and it was proposed in [46] that CYP enzyme disruption may be a key component of pathology associated with glyphosate in humans. Sulfate deficiency in the brain is associated with neuropathology, and such deficiency arises in part due to impaired CYP function … glyphosate impairs sulfate supplies through other mechanisms besides CYP enzyme inhibition. Glyphosate toxicity also leads to anemia, which enhances aluminum retention in the brain and induces hypoxia. … glyphosate works synergistically with aluminum to cause anemia, and that anemia leads to hypoxia, which enhances the effects of aluminum on neurons.”

Sulfates are very important in the body …

“aluminum and glyphosate work synergistically to disrupt sulfate synthesis and sulfate transport.”

Another paper by other authors states that …

“Roundup was among the most toxic herbicides and insecticides tested. Most importantly, 8 formulations out of 9 were up to one thousand times more toxic than their active principles. Our results challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake for pesticides because this norm is calculated from the toxicity of the active principle alone. Chronic tests on pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient of these mixtures is tested alone.”

Carbs and Sleep

Can eating too little carbs be hampering sleep? While a low-carb diet is good for most people and is a great way to lose weight for those that need to lose weight. But what about those people who are underweight or too thin? Do they need more carbs? How do you tell?

I found a clue from Masterjohn when he says …

“If I experience any symptoms I associate with insufficient carbohydrate, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, peeing too much at night, or rapidly losing weight overnight, I increase my carbs.”

and he bumped his calories up to ~2600 kcal per day to keep from losing too much weight.

He said that he had sleeping issues in the past and writes about how to get better sleep in another article, the title of which pretty much sums it up: cool, dark, B6, and carbs. He writes…

“I find that getting enough fat and carbohydrate, and getting enough vitamin B6, which is easiest to get from animal foods, are most important. … In addition to getting enough fat, I also need to get enough carbohydrate.”

Add to that walking in sun in the morning, and not being hungry when sleeping helps. Although you should eat within three hours of going to bed.

I’ve previously mentioned that B6 and Zinc helps with dream recall and dream recall is indicative of good sleep. Both are needed for melatonin sythesis.

Carbs induces insulin production, which drives other amino acids into cells, making tryptophan more available to cross blood-brain barrier to help produce serotonin and melatonin.

Article on Today writes that …

“extra insulin induced drowsiness, too little caused wakefulness.”

How Caffeine Reduces Sleepiness

This is a great video showing how caffeine in coffee works in the brain to reduce sleepiness…

I found this video to be quite good and accurate. It was made by ASAPScience and if you like their video, you might want to take a look at their book ASAPScience.

The more time we are awake, the more adenosine builds up in the brain. This is what makes us sleepy. When we sleep, the adenosine level decrease so that we no longer are as sleepy. However, caffeine affects this sleep regulation, because caffeine competes with the adenosine receptors and blocks the adenosine from docking. So we don’t feel sleepy.

The half-life of caffeine is about 6 hours. That means that it takes six hours for half of the caffeine to disappear from the system. So if you want to sleep, don’t drink caffeine close to bed (preferably not after noon).

Alternatively drink decaf. Fortunately, BrainHQ article writes that the antioxidant levels is decaf is similar to that of regular coffee. But unfortunately, it is the caffeine properties that seem to stave of dementia (in animal studies) [reference]

So caffeine can be both good and bad. Good for staving off dementia, bad for sleep.

Zinc and B6 affect dream recall

If you say you do not dream. Most likely, you do dream. It is just that you have no recollection of it. I found an interesting article by the Institute of Optimum Nutrition published way back in 1986. It says 40% of people have no or infrequent dream recall and that poor dream recall may be due to low nutritional status of zinc and vitamin B6 …

“When researching the signs and symptoms of vitamin B6 and zinc deficiency Dr Carl Pfeiffer, from the Brain Bio Center in New Jersey, found that an alarming proportion of deficient people couldn’t recall their dreams.”

And when supplemental zinc and B6 was given, dream recall would come back. If given too much, they would have really vivid dreams that woke them up. Dreams are often easier to remember during the latter half of the night.

According to the book The New Optimum Nutrition Bible, the best forms of zinc are zinc picolinate and amino acid chelates, followed by zinc ascorbate, citrate, gluconate and sulfate. From page 421…

“Amino acid-chelated minerals are bound to amino acids, examples of which are chromium picolinate and selenocysteine or zinc amino acid chelate. These are well absorbed, as are other “organic” compounds including citrates, gluconates, and aspartates. Inorganic compounds such as carbonates, sulfates, and oxides are less well absorbed.”

Be Careful with Zinc Supplementation

Obviously, you have to be careful when supplementing with minerals. Too much or too little can be detrimental. Plus supplementing too much of one thing can throw off the ratio balance of other things. For example, there is a natural optimal ratio between zinc and copper. Too much zinc could cause copper deficiencies, and so forth. Although most people have too little zinc and too much copper. So if that’s the case, you might want to find zinc supplement that does not contain additional copper if in fact you have copper overload.

One symptom of too much zinc is diarrhea and other symptoms listed on SFGate.

From personal experiments, I did find that when taking a multivitamin with good zinc and B6 in the evening that I did have better dream recall. Also I have better dream recall when I eat watermelon at night.

Foods High in Zinc

Watermelon? Why watermelon? Turns out that watermelon seeds have the high bio-available zinc as noted by World’s Healthiest Foods …

“Interestingly, we’ve seen one study showing that the iron and zinc in watermelon seeds is surprisingly bioavailable (85-90%)”

Although, I don’t eat the seeds. But maybe the mineral gets into the watermelon itself, or I’m eating the baby white edible seeds.

And globalhealingcenter lists top foods with zinc as pumpkin seed, dark chocolate, garlic, sesame seeds, watermelon seeds, wheat germ, squash seeds, chickpeas …

But again, who eats seeds? Those food he listed are not very practical. Except for garlic which you can throw into everything. And dark chocolate is nice.

More practical food source of zinc may be oysters, livers, and beef. Or more generally, seafood, organ meats, egg yolks. And they also have the right balance in zinc and copper. Plant sources of zinc are not well absorbed due to binding with phytic acid. [reference]

He also mentions that if you supplement, he recommends zinc orotate form and says zinc gluconate is “Unfortunately, gluconate supplements are just a chemical substitute for actual zinc.” [reference] While Trudy Scott (in the Hawthorn University video) recommends zinc monomethionine form such as Solaray Optizinc.

And then there is the Garden of Life Whole Foods Zinc formula …

Subjective Zinc Status

Zinc is involved in wound healing and immune function. That’s why they are often found in cold prevention remedies. So if you find yourself with slow wound healing, that may be a sign of zinc deficiency.

Zinc status is not very easily measured as noted by Kalya’s blog…

“There is no specific system for zinc storage in the human body, and it is thus regulated tightly by homeostatic mechanisms which keep about 98% of the body’s supply within the cells at any given time. This system makes zinc levles very difficult to measure using overt laboratory methods. Plasma and serum tests for zinc levels are the most common means of evaluation, however they pose significant difficulties because they are not indicative of cellular zinc.”

Plus individual zinc requirements vary and some people use up zinc more rapidly than others. Stress depletes zinc Perhaps an alternative way to note your zinc level is to note your dream recall.

If I find that I can not recall any dream for more than a few days in a row, I would take some multi-vitamin with higher zinc and/or eat zinc-rich foods until I get vague recollections of dreams in the morning. I don’t want to over-do zinc and have vivid dreams.

Zinc Taste Test

Another subject measure of zinc is the Zinc Taste Test as described Kayla and by Trudy Scott.

The Liquid Zinc Assay from Premier Research Labs is a good one to test with. It is zinc sulfate. Hold one teaspoon (10mg) in mouth for 15 seconds. If you don’t taste anything, it may indicate you are low in zinc. A person with good zinc level will find it to taste horrible.

If you want to use a smaller dose, Metagenics make Zinc Tally which is only 2mg of zinc in 2 teaspoons. You have to look at the labels. You can not tell the dosage of zinc by the amount of the liquid. It depends on how much water is mixed with the zinc.

While Zinc sulfate is used in taste test, it is not an optimal form for supplementation because it is not well absorbed. More better forms are chelated forms such as Zinc Orotate. Although how accurate the zinc taste test is, we do not know [reference or here] or it kind of depends on what type of taster you are [reference]

Vitamin B6

Animal products and bananas are some food sources of B6. But how is B6 related to dream recall? Review of melatonin metabolism goes like this…

L-tryptophan is converted to 5-HTP which then become serotonin. This happens during the day. When exposed to darkness, serotonin gets converted to melatonin and then you fall asleep. That’s why supplementing with tryptophan or 5-HTP (one hour before bed) helps with sleep.

B6 helps make tryptophan work.

There is an active form of B6 known as P5P (pyridoxal-5-phosphate). Vitamin B6 is converted to P5P by the body but this conversion may be inefficient for people with impaired liver function, celiac’s disease, older adults, and in children with autism. [reference]

Zinc is active player in the conversion of B6 to P5P. Low zinc means poor conversion.

Amanda Rose writes …

“Carl Pfieffer, describes in his book Nutrition and Mental Illness that in the presence of a B-6 deficiency you do not recall your dreams at night. … B-6, by the way, is critical in converting your proteins such as tryptophan into key neurotransmitters such as serotonin.”

Incidentally, when I supplemented with 5-HTP briefly, I get really good dream recall.

Again is the mention of Dr. Carl Pfieffer. Okay, I have to get his book …

Zinc, B6 and Insomina

Poor dream recall is one thing. But could it be that if someone is even more deficient, then it could lead to insomina? A simple search reveals the answer to be yes.

From FunctionalMedicineUniversity it writes …

“Now from a functional medicine position it is important to know that a simple B6 or zinc deficiency can contribute to insomnia. A common vitamin B6 deficiency can keep you awake all night, or low zinc causing impaired conversion of B6, which is needed to make tryptophan work.“

Dr. Mercola writes …

“Zinc, vitamin B6, and tryptophan are all needed to produce melatonin; zinc deficiency leads to insomnia”

And he says that zinc gluconate is a good form. Janet Ludwig also mentions zinc gluconate as a good form in her presentation to Hawthorn University…

Pyroluria

There is a condition known as pyroluria for which people are low in zinc and B6 due to a chemical imbalance that binds up zinc and B6 making them unavailable. The severity is a spectrum. But often people with pyroluria are stress intolerant, have social anxiety, tend toward introversion, and sometimes poor sleepers.

Dr. Kaslow writes …

“Most individuals show symptoms of zinc and/or B6 deficiencies, which include poor stress control, nervousness, anxiety, mood swings, severe inner tension, episodic anger (an explosive temper), poor short-term memory and depression. Mostpyrolurics exhibit at least two of these problems. These individuals cannot efficiently create serotonin (a neurotransmitter that reduces anxiety and depression) since vitamin B6 is an important factor in the last step of its synthesis.”

He also makes mention of Dr. Carl Pfeiffer.

More about pyroluria from Hawthorn University presentation by Trudy Scott here …

Some speculate that Pyroluria and Schizophrenia on are on the same spectrum with Schizophrenia on the more severe end. Therefore, some cases of Schizophrenia may be helped by Zinc and B6 as in the case of Eddie here…

You can test for pyroluria with questionnaire and lab tests. If you have poor dream recall, you may be deficient in either or both B6 and Zinc (read here for best form of these supplements such as Zinc picolinate and Pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P). ).

Zinc and B6 and Insulin

Incidentally, zinc and B6 are also needed to make insulin. Very thin people (especially as they age) may be low zinc and B6 since insulin is needed to gain weight.

ZMA Supplement

There is a supplement known as ZMA that combines Zinc, Magnesium, and B6. TheeksThought wrote about his experience with various sleep supplements and said ZMA can produce intense dreams.

Here is what WebMD says about ZMA …

“One study also found that men who took 100 milligrams of zinc supplements for 10 years were more likely to get prostate cancer, but the reason isn’t clear. Taking extremely high levels of B6 for a year or more may cause nerve damage.”

As with all supplements, check with your medical professional first and not all supplements are suitable for everybody or every condition.

Does eating fat help with sleep?

There have been reports that eating fat helps with sleep because fat is helpful to the brain. Seth Roberts and BulletProof Exec talked about this (see respective links). Seth Roberts also mentioned that honey helped him with sleep.

These are natural fat (such as coconut, MCT, pork fat, animal fat, butter, etc). No one is suggesting to consume bad fat such as trans fat like those in donuts and deep fried foods.

Can Pesticides Affect Sleep?

There are some evidence that suggest that consuming pesticides containing glyphosate can negatively affect sleep.

Round-Up is one such pesticide whose active ingredient is glyphosate. RoundUp is sprayed on many crops such as wheat, barley, lentils, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, citrus, etc. It is not just used as a pesticide, but also as a ripening agent. [reference]

While the main cause of glyphosate is digestive issue, there may be a secondary effect on sleep. Because glyphosate impairs tryptophan synthesis in plants and in gut bacteria. We humans get our tryptophan from foods (including plants, which are now deficient in them), and our gut bacteria produces tryptophan. [reference]

So eating glyphosate laden plants might make us tryptophan deficient. Trytophan is a precursor to making serotonin, which in turn is a precursor to melatonin. Conceivably deficiency in trytophan may cause a deficiency in serotonin, which negatively affects our moods. And a deficiency in serotonin may cause a deficiency in melatonin, which is our sleep hormone.

See reference article that says…

“The amino acid tryptophan is needed to produce serotonin in the brain… It has been shown in human clinical studies that low levels of tryptophan contribute to insomnia”

Our body’s can not make trytophan; we have to eat them in our foods. But if our foods are deficient, then it is pretty difficult to come by. Tryptophan is one of the least plentiful of all the amnio acids.

Just Eat Organic

While we don’t know exactly how significant this effect of pesticide is on sleep, perhaps the effect is small.

But nevertheless, for this and many other reasons, the best recommendation is consume organic fruit and vegetables and meat. By definition, organic includes pesticide free. While meats are not sprayed pesticide, the non-organically raised animals do often eat crops that are sprayed Roundup and some believe that its effects can get into the meat of the animal.

I personally try to get organic whenever reasonably possible to do so.