Food Contaminants
glyphosate causes celiac disease
In plain terms: Does glyphosate cause celiac disease?
Part of: 🔍 glyphosate
This comes from one 2013 paper that noticed glyphosate use and celiac diagnoses rose at the same time. Nobody has ever tested it. Celiac diagnoses also rose because doctors started screening for it.
📅 Last reviewed: 2026-07-29 ⓘ
Evidence ladder
How far up the ladder this claim has climbed. A high consensus on a low rung means "consistent so far," not "proven in people."
Top evidence so far: Population patterns (Observational)
How the studies fall
What the evidence shows
This claim traces almost entirely to one 2013 paper that argued from parallel time-trends, rising glyphosate use alongside rising celiac diagnosis, plus proposed mechanisms, with no original data. A published rebuttal calls the reasoning a syllogistic fallacy unsupported by evidence.
The evidence (9)
| Source | Grade | Stance | Quality | Finding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnett JA et al 2020 · study_type: observational | observational | mixed | moderate | Critical literature review of glyphosate, gut dysbiosis and wheat/gluten sensitivity (explicitly framed around non-celiac wheat sensitivity in people WITHOUT a celiac diagnosis, not celiac disease itself) concludes the dysbiosis mechanism i |
| Mesnage R et al 2021 · study_type: animal | animal | mixed | moderate | EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL dosing: glyphosate or Roundup MON 52276 at 0.5, 50, and 175 mg/kg BW/day for 90 days in Sprague-Dawley rats confirmed shikimate-pathway inhibition in the gut microbiome (shikimic acid accumulation) but altered cecal meta |
| Manthey FA et al 2004 · study_type: mechanism | mechanism | mixed | low | Agronomic/food-science trial (DIETARY/processing relevant): pre-harvest glyphosate applied at soft- or hard-dough stage of hard red spring wheat reduced test weight (1.3-2.3 kg/hL) and kernel weight but increased gluten index by 2-8 units a |
| Malalgoda M et al 2020 · study_type: mechanism | mechanism | mixed | low | Agronomic experiment (DIETARY/food-processing relevant): pre-harvest glyphosate application to spring wheat did not alter amino acid composition, protein secondary structure, or overall gluten protein composition, but did reduce SDS-extract |
| d10-4024-25sa16a-jbpc-17-01 2017 · Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry | mechanism | mixed | low | Same-authorship (Seneff group) 'pathways to modern disease' series entry listing coeliac disease among autoimmune conditions that rose 'in step' with US glyphosate use, proposed via a glycine-mimicry/molecular-mimicry mechanism during prote TEMPERED: preclinical (animal/in-vitro) evidence, retained in the ledger but not carrying a human-outcome headline; dosing is typically far above human exposure. |
| d10-31677-2311-0651-2018-0-4-26-30 2018 · Innovations and Food Safety | observational | supports | low | Analytical review (no original epidemiological or experimental data, minor non-indexed food-safety journal) stating glyphosate is 'presumably' responsible for celiac disease in people without the standard genetic predisposition. Reiterates |
| Mesnage R et al 2017 · study_type: observational | observational | contradicts | moderate | Non-empirical critical appraisal of Samsel & Seneff's glyphosate-disease commentaries (the same authors/series as the flagship celiac paper), concluding their 'deductive reasoning approach based on syllogism' is 'not supported by the availa |
| Samsel A et al 2013 · study_type: mechanism | mechanism | mixed | low | Hypothesis-generating narrative review (Samsel & Seneff; no original data) proposing glyphosate as 'the most important causal factor' in celiac disease via gut dysbiosis, cytochrome-P450 inhibition, and chelation of iron/cobalt/molybdenum/c TEMPERED: preclinical (animal/in-vitro) evidence, retained in the ledger but not carrying a human-outcome headline; dosing is typically far above human exposure. |
| Palus K et al 2024 · study_type: animal | animal | mixed | moderate | EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL dosing in gilts (oral glyphosate 0.05 or 0.5 mg/kg BW/day for 28 days, described by the authors as 'equivalent to environmental exposure,' i.e., near/below regulatory ADI) found increased galanin-immunoreactive neurons a |
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