Association between urinary glyphosate exposure and bone mineral density in adults

Abstract

There is very limited evidence linking glyphosate exposure to bone mineral density in adults aged 20 to 59 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the correlation between urinary glyphosate concentrations and total bone mineral density (BMD) in adults aged 20 to 59 years. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2013 to 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included 594 men (mean age 39.1 years) and 610 women (mean age 40.0 years). In our study, we utilized a weighted multiple regression equation model to investigate the potential correlation between urinary glyphosate concentration and total BMD. Additionally, we conducted a stratified analysis to differentiate between various special populations. Our findings revealed a significant negative association between urinary glyphosate concentration and total BMD across 3 different regression models (Model 1, β [95% CI]: −0.0160 [−0.0200, −0.0120]; Model 2, β [95% CI]: −0.0135 [−0.0172, −0.0098]; Model 3, β [95% CI]: −0.0141 [−0.0178, −0.0104]). However, after stratifying by gender, age, and race, we observed varying conclusions. This study found that urinary glyphosate concentration was negatively associated with total BMD in both men and women when stratified by sex. Additionally, when stratified by age, the negative association was more significant in the 20 to 29 and 50 to 59 year age groups. When stratified by race, a significant negative association was found in races other than Hispanic. Therefore, the impact of glyphosate exposure on BMD should attract more people’s attention.