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MSM is the abbreviated name for methylsulfonylmethane. It is not a medicine, it is a naturally occurring nutrient found in all foods: milk, fruits, meats and vegetables. It’s chemical formula is (CH3)2SO2. In its pure form, it is essentially a tasteless, odorless, white, water-soluble crystalline solid. MSM is found in the normal diet of humans and most other vertebrates. Leading world atmospheric chemists have suggested that MSM and its related compounds, DMSO (dimethlsulfoxide), and DMS (dimethylsulfide) account for 85% of the sulfur found in all living organisms. MSM originates in the ocean where microscopic plants and animals called plankton release sulfur compounds called dimethylsulfonium salts. These salts are converted in the sea water into dimethylsulfide (DMS) which is a very volatile compound. DMS escapes from the ocean as a gas and rises into the upper atmosphere. Here, ozone and high-energy ultraviolet light converts the DMS into DMSO and MSM. Both DMSO and MSM are very water soluble and return to the earth’s surface in rain. Plants readily absorb these two compounds through their root systems and concentrate them up to one hundred fold. MSM and the sulfur it contains are incorporated into the plant structure. In the plant, the MSM and similar sulfur compounds are eventually mineralized and transported back to the sea where the sulfur cycle begins again.

MSM is a nutrient found naturally in the human body. It can be found in both blood and in organ tissues. The natural level of MSM in the circulatory system of a normal human male is about 0.2 parts per million. A normal human adult excretes from four to eleven milligrams of MSM per day in their urine. The concentration of MSM in mammals decreases with age, perhaps as a result of dietary changes or body metabolism. We all need sufficient amounts of MSM every day to provide our bodies with the proper building materials it needs to build healthy flexible cells. MSM is the 3rd most abundant ingredient found in your body. Your body is made up of water, salt and MSM. Dr. Stanley W. Jacob and Robert Herschler of the Oregon Health Science University reported their research showed a minimum concentration in the body may be critical to both normal function and structure. The body uses MSM to create new, good healthy cells. Vitamins and amino acids work with MSM during this process. Without proper levels of MSM, our bodies are unable to build good healthy cells and this leads to illness. Our bodies are producing new cells 24 hours per day. If your body doesn't receive the proper nutrition and building materials it needs, it will produce bad, dysfunctional cells, deficient of the basic ingredients that constitute a healthy cell. If we want a good flexible cell, capable of maintaining good health, we may need to supplement our diets with MSM, to enable the body to heal itself. Your body knows what it needs better than any doctor. It will use MSM whenever it is needed in your system. By providing your body the MSM it needs, you may be providing the nutrition your body needs to heal itself.

Because of its volatile nature, MSM is quickly lost from food when it is processed, cooked and/or stored. The second you pick fruit or vegetables from the tree or vine, it begins rapidly losing the MSM and studies by Jacob and Herschler suggests that the systemic concentration of MSM drops with increasing age. They further stated, "we are intrigued by the fact that MSM is a contestant factor in all normal diets of vertebrates and somewhat mystified by the seeming need of the body of adults for a concentration level above that available from a diet presumed as normal." During normal preparation of food, we lose most of MSM because it goes with the moisture, such as washing, drying, steaming. Even in meats, MSM is not as abundant as it used to be. Today, animals are being fed with dried, stored grasses, hay and grains, deficient in MSM. When your body uses the MSM molecule to produce a new cell, the MSM is lost forever. We need to continuously replace the body's needed supply of MSM to produce new, good healthy cells. A conventional diet does not supply the minimum requirement of MSM. It is absent in synthetic food additives, dietary mineral compositions, food substitutes and most fillers used to dilute or modify foods. With today's modern diet of cooked and otherwise processed and diluted foods, most - if not all - diets of civilized man are deficient in this critically important ingredient.

MSM is as safe as drinking pure water. Because of its inert nature, MSM is non-allergenic, non-pyretic, and has no interfering or undesirable pharmacological effects. Common table salt is much more toxic than MSM. The lethal dose of MSM for mice is over 20 g/kg of body weight. MSM has been administered orally to human volunteers at intake levels of up to 1 gm/kg of body weight per day for 30 days and injected intravenously at 0.5 gm/kg daily for five days per week. In both instances, no measurable toxicity was observed. MSM has been widely tested as a food ingredient without any reports of allergic reactions. An unpublished study conducted by Oregon Health Sciences University showed no toxic effects. The study measured long term toxicity of MSM over a six month period. Oregon Health Sciences University has treated more than 12,000 patients with MSM at levels above 2 grams per day with no serious toxicity.

You cannot overdose with MSM. The body will use what it needs and after 12 hours, will flush any excess amounts out of the body. MSM will flush what the body does not retain semi-permanently every 12 hours and because it is a free radical and foreign protein scavenger, MSM cleans the blood stream, so allergies to food and pollens go away in about 3 or 4 days. One may take MSM in the morning and the evening to maintain good healthy cells,.

The only side effects are stronger fingernails, toe nails and your hair grows faster because you have more sulfur in your finger nails and hair than other cells of your body.

MSM is an excellent dietary source of essential sulfur which can be used by the body in its creation of many proteins, hormones and other substances essential to healthy function. Sulfur is critical for the synthesis of connective tissue, enzymes and immunoglobulin. Dr. Michael Murray reported that sulfur is an essential nutrient for joint tissue where it functions in the stabilization of the connective tissue matrix of cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. He also commented that even healthy humans typically have a very low serum sulfate of 0.3 to 0.4 mm and synovial sulfur levels and even lower in persons with osteoarthritis.

As far back as the 1930's, researchers demonstrated that individuals with arthritis are commonly deficient in the essential nutrient sulfur. Restoring sulfur levels brought about significant benefit to these patients. Dr. M. Annefeld and her colleagues have discovered that sulfur inhibits the various enzymes which lead to cartilage destruction in osteoarthritis (e.g., collagenase, elastases, and hyaluronidase).

The Oregon Health Sciences University has observed what MSM can achieve regarding health and well-being when it is taken as a dietary supplement:

IMPROVED HEALTH -- maintenance of good health, enhances Vitamin C, other antioxidants and other bioflavanoids, benefits as a food additive, benefits as a diet supplement, enhanced ability to concentrate.

BODY -- resistance to sun and wind burn, benefits for eye inflammation, oral hygiene for mouth and gums, improved sense of taste and smell, benefits to internal organs, benefits to lung tissue, an ameliorating (alleviating) or curing effect on parasites. Accelerated wound healing. Benefits for allergies and other sensitivities, reducing the adverse response to inhalant allergens, controlling problems associated with gastric hyperacidity, relief from chronic constipation, reducing or eliminating hypersensitivity problems associated with oral medications (such as nonsteroidal antiarthritic agents), providing relief from the symptoms of lung dysfunction, benefits as a mood elevator, improving the chemical profile of arthritic patients (e.g., providing relief from pain and stiffness, reduced swelling and inflammation, coupled with a return of blood chemistry toward normalcy), reduction in hypertension, enhancing the immune system.

ALLERGIES -- Oral ingestion of MSM has alleviated the allergic response to pollen and too foods. The anti-allergic property of MSM is comparable or better than traditional antihistaminic preparations.

CONTROL OF HYPERACIDITY -- Patients who have used antacids and histamine receptor antagonists to control hyperacidity can employ MSM with excellent results.

CONSTIPATION -- chronic constipation has been promptly and continually relieved with a daily supplement of 100 to 500 mgs of MSM orally

SKIN -- benefits to the skin and internal organs, benefits for connective tissue and dermatological disorders, effectiveness in preserving the pliancy of connective tissue, countering crosslinking of collagen associated with aging, improvement of adverse (diseased) skin disorders, favorable response in treating acne.

HAIR AND NAILS -- benefits for scalp and hair, improved nail growth, improved hair and hair growth, benefits for cuticles and nails.

PAIN RELIEF -- relieving acute pain in humans, relieving post-athletic activity fatigue, relieving muscle and leg cramps, relieve arthritis and other sources of pain.

DERMATOLOGICAL DISORDERS MUSCLE CRAMPS -- MSM has the surprising ability to reduce the incidents of, or eliminate entirely, muscle cramps, leg and back cramps after long periods of inactivity, or in athletes such as runners, football, basketball and soccer players who experience cramps during the participation in their sport.

PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASES PARASITIC INFECTIONS -- Both in vitro and in vivo tests have indicated that MSM has an ameliorating effect on a variety of medically significant parasitic tracts. MSM is active, for example, against Giardia, Trichomondads, and round worms. MSM provides a blocking interface between the host and parasite.

References:
Annefeld, Marliese, Ph.D., "Arthritis Counselor", Special 1997 edition, p 15
Bennett, J.C., & Plum, F. eds., Cecil "Textbook of Medicine", 20th Ed., W.B. Saunders Co., 1996
Deichman, W.B. & Gerarde, H.W. eds, "Toxicology of Drugs & Chemicals", 4th Edition, Academy Press, 1969
Jacob, J.W., and Herschler, R., Ann New York Academy of Science, Vol. 411. xiii, 1983
Jacob, S.W., "Personal Communication", Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon
Lovelock, J.E., "Nature", Vol. 237, 452, 1972
Pfiffner, J.J., & North, H.B., Bio Chem, Vol. 131, 731, 1940
Richmond, V.L., "Nutrition", Vol. 116, No. 6, June 1986
Morton, J.I., & Moore, R.D., Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, 69th Annual Meeting, April 21-26, 1985, 692, 1985
Murray, Dr. Michael, "Arthritis Counselor", Special 1997 edition, p. 11
O’Dwyer, P.J., "Cancer", Vol. 62, 944, 1988
U.S. Patent 5,569,679 (October 29, 1996)
"DMSO After 20 Years", Journal of the New York Academy of Sciences
"Arthritis Counselor", Special 1997 edition, pp. 11, 15