The Glyphosate-Celiac Hypothesis: What the Research Found and Why Nobody Followed Up

I spent years trying to figure out what was happening inside my son’s body. Years of logging, eliminating, reintroducing, sitting in waiting rooms, reading studies at midnight, and learning to trust my own observations more than I trusted the reassurances I kept receiving.

When my research led me to a published peer-reviewed paper in Interdisciplinary Toxicology by Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, my reality supernova’d. They presented an argument that glyphosate may be the most important causal factor in the rise of celiac disease and gluten intolerance.¹

At the time, I had only been casually familiar with the term glyphosate. Thereafter, it was the center of my attention.

What they found was a cascade. Glyphosate disrupts the microvilli of the small intestine, the tiny structures responsible for nutrient absorption. It inhibits enzymes involved in detoxification, vitamin D activation, and bile acid production. It depletes the amino acid precursors to serotonin and other neurotransmitters. And it interferes with the breakdown of complex proteins in the stomach, leaving larger fragments of wheat protein sitting undigested in the gut, where the body then mounts an immune response against them.¹

Reading that, I faltered. I thought, that cannot be right, because that sounds exactly the same, or at least very similar, to what celiac means for people with the disease. Assuming it was late-night brain fog, I favorited the tab to look at it again in the morning. I reviewed it again and again the next day. I cross-referenced it with celiac disease directly. I sought out the disputes. Played devil’s advocate. My conclusion came back the same. This was something that mirrored my firsthand experience as a mother to a child with celiac disease.

Celiac disease diagnoses have risen nearly 400% over the last five decades.² Some of that is credited to better screening, and that’s valid. However, Samsel and Seneff put the trajectory of celiac disease diagnoses alongside the trajectory of glyphosate application and the two run parallel almost completely.¹ While that could be a coincidence, the fact that the two do nearly identical things inside of the body is less likely coincidental.

Stephanie Seneff is a senior research scientist at MIT. When asked about pre-harvest glyphosate application on wheat and the connection to celiac disease, she pointed directly at the mechanism. Glyphosate disrupts protein digestion. Wheat carries significant glyphosate residue. Celiac is triggered by gluten, a protein in that same wheat.¹ I am not connecting dots that are not there. Those dots are already connected.

So, you’re wondering, is this proven? No, it is not. A 2017 review pushed back on Samsel and Seneff’s conclusions, noting that their hypothesis was built on correlation rather than direct experimentation and that some of the studies they cited didn’t hold up under closer scrutiny. Those are legitimate scientific concerns and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Correlation is not causation, however, there is a real and documented correlation between glyphosate application and the rise in celiac disease diagnoses. And that warrants direct investigation. Rigorous, independent, well-funded investigation. And that has not happened. Which brings me to a simple question...why?

Independent research requires funding, and funding follows interest. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in human history, generating billions in revenue annually. The entities with the resources to fund a definitive study are the same entities with the most to lose from one. Perhaps ignorance is bliss. Or perhaps it is just profitable. Either way, the question remains open, the correlation present, and the definitive answer waiting on society to decide it deserves support and funding.

The decade of the heaviest glyphosate use overlaps almost exactly with the decade that celiac diagnoses accelerated. It also overlaps with the decade that childhood autoimmune conditions, inflammatory disorders, and neurodevelopmental diagnoses began rising in ways that genetics alone cannot explain.⁴

While I cannot declare causation as fact, I can confidently say these trajectories exist and they deserve the same attention we give to anything else we claim to care about.

We are Evernorth. We are here to ask the uncomfortable questions. To share the truth whether it aligns with our beliefs or not, and to strive for the betterment of all of humanity.

Sources

1. Samsel, A. & Seneff, S. (2013). Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Interdisciplinary Toxicology, 6(4), 159–184. PubMed | Full text via PMC

2. Celiac Disease Rates Skyrocket: Up 400% in Last 50 Years. Celiac.com, citing Mayo Clinic study. celiac.com

3. Beyond Celiac. (2024). Food Safety: What Is Glyphosate and What Does It Have to Do with Celiac Disease? beyondceliac.org

4. King, J.A. et al. (2020). Incidence of Celiac Disease Is Increasing Over Time: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 115(4), 507–525. PubMed