Paraquat and Everyone’s Favourite Beans! The Connection Stinks!

So it appears, that what glyphosate has done to wheat gluten, causing celiacs, chron’s patients, and others to claim that they are gluten-intolerant when in fact they are glyphosate-intolerant, the same has been happening to the lectins found in legumes and potatoes since the early 2000’s according to a June article Mercola wrote in 2023.

By themselves, if you are properly soaking your beans before prepping them for a dish, AND eating your anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory foods along with these high oxylate vegan protein sources, you may be able to stave off the damage done by eating them on a daily basis. But Mercola’s article introduces us to a herbicide that as of Fall 2023, is starting to be challenged in court in various states around the USA, that much like Monsanto, is sickening and maming farmers, let alone those who buy and eat their crops.

The herbicide in question, is called Paraquat, and according to Mercola’s findings (see his clickable footnotes at the end of the linked article), the main company bringing Paraquat to market did the same underhanded quasi-science paper routine that Monsanto did.

Discoveries made around Paraquat’s behaviour in the human body further cement the gut-brain connection, but raise it out of the gut, directly into the stomach, providing a direct connection via the Vagus Nerve to the area of the brain where dopamine regulates motor skills. The farmers taking the company to court are claiming that Paraquat causes or enhances Parkinson’s Disease, a condition for which mainstream medical has no known cure.

Considering that legumes and the nightshade family of edible foods (not the poisonous members of the nightshade family) have appeared in various writings over time as having medicinal benefits for Parkinson’s disease, this means that anyone following that advice and not ensuring organic or non-herbicide-grown produce is eaten, are now actually worsening their own or other’s neurological health. Herbal writings continue to list the benefits of wheat, even though under glyphosate sprays, it’s benefits are drastically reduced (not gone, just reduced). Modern commercial farming practices are taking what used to be healthy, and only making it healthy for the bank account now, not for consumption of those who should be benefiting instead.

The primary action causing the damage, as one study Mercola found, said:

“Paraquat is designed to injure and kill plants by creating oxidative stress, which causes or contributes to causing the degeneration and death of plant cells. Similarly, Paraquat injures and kills animals by creating oxidative stress, which causes the degeneration and death of animal cells.”

“Disturbingly, animal research shows paraquat becomes exponentially more hazardous in combination with plant lectins. The cruel irony here is that paraquat is widely used as an herbicide and desiccant on lectin-rich crops in particular, including wheat, soybeans, potatoes, cereal grains and beans”

“According to the study in question, published in the journal NPJ Parkinson’s Disease in 2018, plant lectins help shuttle paraquat into your brain, where it does the most damage.”

This is where we remember that herbs such as Ginger and Psyllium, are neuroprotective, and should be a regular part of everyone’s diet in some fashion. It is when we remember that foods containing astaxanthin are neuroprotective, foods containing Vitamin E are neuroprotective, foods containing the anthraquinone Emodin, are neuroprotective. This when we remember that many of the flavinoid-containing foods are neuroprotective, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory.

Selenium was found to be neuroprotective against aceteminaphen in mice.  What do many people take who are in some form of chronic, immobilizing pain? They take some variant of Tylenol!

EDIT Jan 2024:

Further to the discussion around Selenium and mention of oxidative stress and the danger it poses to the human body, an article on mental health by Dr Mercola featured an interview with a Dr. Walsh, who had this to say:

“”By the way, oxidative stress runs through every single mental disorder we see, without exception,” Walsh says. “Every one of them seems to have extraordinary oxidative stress — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, a violent child or an autistic child.”

Unfortunately, our modern lifestyle strongly promotes oxidative stress, with processed foods, processed vegetable oils, excessive net carbs and excessive protein being some of the most potent factors. This kind of diet causes a reduction in ketones and a radical increase in reactive oxygen species and secondary free radicals.

Exposure to nonnative electromagnetic fields, glyphosate and other pesticides, fluoride contaminated water and other toxic exposures only add to the problem.”

Walsh mentions later on in the same article:

“The fact that autistic children tend to have extraordinary copper and zinc imbalances means their metallothionein protein is not functioning. Metallothionein is required for homeostatic control of copper and zinc.”

“The most important antioxidants in the brain are somewhat different than the rest of the body. I call them the three musketeers. It’s glutathione, metallothionein and selenium. It’s specific to the brain,” he explains.”

Mercola adds:

“Technically, selenium is not an antioxidant per se, but it does increase glutathione levels and enhances the function of metallothionein and, in the brain, glutathione and metallothionein work together. Glutathione is your first line of defense. The problem is, autistic children typically have a poor diet (it’s hard to get them to eat anything) and with the oxidative overload, they quickly run out of glutathione. When you run low on glutathione in your brain, your metallothionein level increases.”

“As noted by Walsh, of all the trace metals, selenium has the narrowest division between deficiency and overload, so you need to be careful when supplementing.

Zinc also needs to be normalized, as it is the No. 1 factor for enabling metallothionein to function and support glutathione. “

end edit

Some of the foods that can be used to fight against oxidative stress, contain oxylates, so without further adieu, let me reiterate all over again, “All things in moderation!” Don’t create one problem while trying to solve another! A diet too high in anti-inflammatories will have the exact same effects as living on ibuprofen! Oxidative stress and inflammation need to be regularly addressed because we aren’t entirely sure which foods have been treated with which chemicals when we go shopping, but we need to be balanced about what we eat as well.

It is of great consolation to me, that God saw the future need for mitigating, undoing, and repairing damage that would be done to various parts of the human body by selfish, greedy humans who saw “better” ways to manage commercial farming!

If you enjoy eating bean salads, hummus, chickpea, black/white bean or kidney/lima bean anything and tend to eat it frequently, you’d be wise to find sources where it is grown without pesticides or herbicides. The organic label may not be a guide here, because we’ve met farmers who can’t afford to use that label, and others have met companies erroneously using that label, or using chemicals that don’t show up on regulation paperwork in order to get that label. This means you should feel no guilt if you are trying to eat clean and still getting unwanted chemicals into you! If you are unable to ascertain healthy sources, increase what you eat from the brassica or cabbage family, fish and seafood intake, nuts, mushrooms, and your pepper and spices such as turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cayenne, and using olive oil.

Of note in the health landscape we currently live in, you can do triple duty with some of your food choices by including pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, Rosemary, ginger, and dandelion into your regular diet. Choosing foods that help your body maintain or regain more areas of health than one is wise both in terms of your cupboard as well as your pocketbook.

Sign up for my monthly natural health retainer at just $50/mo, and request a customized grocery list featuring foods, herbs and spices that address your specific personal health needs. You may be surprised at the list God made available. Merely researching this article led to more entries in my own nutritional/medicinal database that was already featuring over 9000 entries on over 450 foods! I think it’s time to do another database tidy-up and release another update!

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