US BioTek Laboratories

A 2026 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers in Microbiology (Knecht et al.) investigates whether glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides globally, may be contributing to the spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria.

🌍 The study was conducted in Argentina, where glyphosate use is extensive, particularly in soybean cultivation. Results are specific to this geographic and clinical context.
🔬 Researchers tested 103 bacterial strains across three sources: 68 from sediment in a protected wetland in the Paraná Delta (where glyphosate has never been directly applied), 19 from hospital infection isolates, and 15 from feedlots and herbicide-impacted agricultural soils.
💊 All 19 hospital-derived MDR strains showed high resistance to glyphosate. Among those, 74% were resistant to carbapenems, a last-resort antibiotic class (14 of 19 isolates).
🌱 Environmental strains showed a gradient of glyphosate resistance. Enterobacter species, an emerging clinical pathogen, tolerated the highest concentrations. Bacillus species were most susceptible.
🧬 Whole genome sequencing of 46 strains found that efflux pump genes and phn degradative genes were more predictive of glyphosate resistance than mutations in the primary target enzyme (EPSPS). Those same efflux pump genes are associated with multidrug antibiotic resistance, the basis for the cross-resistance hypothesis.

⚠️ One key nuance: across all 103 strains, higher antibiotic resistance did not reliably predict higher glyphosate resistance (Spearman correlation p=0.977). The association between high glyphosate resistance and MDR was specific to the clinical strain group, not a universal pattern across all bacteria tested.

The authors propose a transmission pathway from glyphosate-treated agricultural soils through untreated wastewater into clinical settings, but this route was not directly observed in the study. They call for pesticide regulations to require antibiotic co-selection testing before products reach market.

This is an observational study. It identifies a plausible mechanism and a notable association, not a proven causal relationship.
Source: Knecht CA et al. Front. Microbiol. 2026; 17:1740431. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2026.1740431

US BioTek Laboratories

Polyphenols are a class of naturally occurring compounds found in plant-based foods 🫐🥜🍵 and they've become one of the more studied areas in nutritional biochemistry in recent decades.

They function primarily as antioxidants 🌿 and research has examined their potential associations with cardiovascular health, blood sugar regulation, digestive function, weight regulation, and neurological health. 🫀🧠

What makes them more nuanced than a typical nutrient: a food's polyphenol content doesn't directly predict how much actually gets absorbed and used.
🔬 Activity depends on metabolism, intestinal absorption, and bioavailability, which means whole food sources tend to outperform isolated supplements where the surrounding food matrix that supports absorption is absent. 🥗

The graphic above covers key food sources and polyphenol concentrations sourced from recent literature. 📊