Glyphosate and Humic

Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in the world[*], with nearly 19 billion pounds sprayed onto soil and food since the 1980s[*]. It’s the star product of agrochemical giant Monsanto (since acquired by Bayer Pharmaceuticals), and in a sense, it’s a brilliant invention. Glyphosate is amazing at killing weeds and has helped increase global crop yields in the last few decades. 

On the other hand, glyphosate is an extraordinarily potent toxin, and the fact that it’s legal to spray it on food is, in my opinion, criminal. Quite a few judges agree: as of 2020, Bayer has paid out more than $10 billion in damages to people who have gotten cancer as a result of glyphosate exposure[*], and a 2019 study found that absorbing glyphosate on a regular basis increases your cancer risk by 41%[*].  

The trouble is that almost everyone absorbs glyphosate on a regular basis. It’s in your food, water, and air, and its use is increasing every year. What can you do to counteract it?

Here’s a look at why glyphosate is such a problem, as well as how you can detox it and protect yourself from the damage it causes. 

You Probably Have Glyphosate In Your System

Glyphosate is almost everywhere. It starts out on farmland, where farmers either spray it on crops or drip it into soil via watering systems.  

The trouble is that glyphosate doesn’t stay on farmland. It spreads through the air, floating onto and contaminating nearby land, via a phenomenon called pesticide drift[*]. It travels down through soil and ends up in the water table, where it gets into drinking water[*] and groundwater[*]. And, not surprisingly, glyphosate residue remains on food, which you then eat[*].

As a result, there’s a very good chance you have glyphosate in your system right now. A large-scale 2022 study from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that 80% of Americans have detectable glyphosate levels in their urine[*]. 

Of course, it could be worse: another 2022 study found that 99% of the French population has detectable glyphosate in their urine, with significantly higher values for men and younger people[*]. 

When you pair that data with the finding that glyphosate increases cancer risk in humans by 41%[*],  things start to look pretty bleak. Avoiding glyphosate seems pretty much impossible. The better question is: how can you get it out of your body and make sure it doesn’t build up in your cells?

Humic Substance: the Best Way to Remove Glyphosate

Taking humic substance—a concentrated mineral compound that occurs naturally in soil—is the single best way to remove glyphosate from your body.  

When plants break down, they deposit a variety of minerals and organic compounds into the soil. Over thousands of years, these compounds build up and concentrate together, forming an ultra-potent collection of bioactive molecules called humic substance. 

Humic substance is good for you in a variety of ways. It’s a good general detoxifier—it binds to heavy metals and plasticizers like BPA[*]—and it also gently removes cellular waste, making your mitochondria (the power plants of your cells) more efficient[*].  

However, the best case for taking humic substance is its ability to detoxify glyphosate. Glyphosate is an especially nasty toxin. It hides in your cells and causes dysfunction while avoiding the grasp of most standard detoxifiers. 

Fortunately, humic substance is very good at detoxing glyphosate. It does so in three ways:

• Humic substance adsorbs free glyphosate in your gut and bloodstream, binding to and deactivating it[*]. A 2014 study found that humic substance completely neutralizes glyphosate’s ability to destroy gut bacteria[*]. 

• Humic substance also opens up channels in cell walls and pulls out stored glyphosate.A 2015 study found that consuming humic substance dramatically decreases glyphosate levels stored in tissue[*]. 

• Finally, humic substance falls out of solution once it binds to glyphosate, allowing you to pass the deactivated glyphosate out of your system for good. 

Where most detoxifiers fail, humic substance succeeds. It’s one of the best ways to protect yourself from glyphosate’s effects. 

How to Take Humic Substance

The best humic substance I’ve found comes from BEAM Minerals. Their humic substance comes from ancient decomposed rain forests soil and is delivered in a liquid suspension, a form that’s especially easy to absorb. It’s one of the most bioavailable humic supplements on the market. 

In addition, BEAM’s humic substance is flavorless. It tastes like water, which is a major upgrade from most humic supplements (if you’ve ever taken humic before, you know what I mean. It usually tastes downright terrible). 

Finally, BEAM Minerals also offers fulvic complexes, which is humic substance’s counterpart. While humic removes toxins from your system, fulvic offers concentrated, full-spectrum minerals that refill your mineral stores, in a ratio that’s ideal for your body—and again, in a highly absorbable liquid form.  

I take BEAM Minerals’ humic and fulvic substances together every morning, as part of my daily supplement routine. You can feel them working—your brain turns on, you get more energy, your gut feels strong, and you’re ready to start your day. 

Whenever I find a product or service I love and use daily, I reach out to the founders about getting a special deal for my readers. BEAM Minerals has been very generous: they’re offering 20% off all their supplements—including humic and fulvic—if you use the code “DAVE” at checkout. 

Whether you go with BEAM Minerals or another source, it’s worth adding humic substance to your daily supplements. Glyphosate is one of the biggest threats in our food and environment, and as its use increases, things are only going to get worse. Humic substance is the single best thing you can do to get it out of your system.