Samsel, Anthony, Seneff, Stephanie · Surgical neurology international · 2015 · DOI
This paper explores whether glyphosate (a common herbicide in Roundup) might deplete the body of manganese, an essential mineral needed for brain health, nerve protection, and gut bacteria balance. The authors suggest that low manganese levels could contribute to various neurological conditions and gut problems, and they propose a mechanism connecting herbicide exposure to these health issues.
ME/CFS patients frequently experience neurological symptoms, mitochondrial dysfunction, and dysbiosis. This paper's proposed mechanism linking environmental manganese depletion to mitochondrial energy failure and dysbiosis could help explain some ME/CFS pathophysiology if the underlying associations were confirmed in patient populations.
This mechanistic review does not provide direct experimental evidence that glyphosate exposure causes manganese depletion in humans, nor does it prove causality between manganese levels and ME/CFS development. The study is correlation-based reasoning rather than controlled intervention or observational research in affected populations, and alternative explanations for the observed associations are not thoroughly addressed.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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Primary citation
Samsel, Anthony & Seneff, Stephanie (2015). Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies.. Surgical neurology international. https://doi.org/10.4103/2152-7806.153876
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-samsel-2015-glyphosate-pathways,
author = {Samsel, Anthony and Seneff, Stephanie},
title = {Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies.},
journal = {Surgical neurology international},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.4103/2152-7806.153876},
note = {PubMed: 25883837},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/samsel-2015-glyphosate-pathways},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/samsel-2015-glyphosate-pathways
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