MSM Health Article

Description

Methylsulfonylmethane, or MSM, is also known as methyl sulfone and dimethylsulfone (DMSO₂). It is a sulfur-bearing compound that exists naturally in many fruits, vegetables, grains, and animals, including humans. Its presence and activity was discovered while working with its parent compound, DMSO, of which it is an oxidized metabolite (hence the O₂ designation). Although 55,000 papers have been written on DMSO, research on MSM has been more limited. A wide range of therapeutic benefits are attributed to it, along with a high degree of safety, and a low degree of toxicity. Actor James Coburn, crippled by rheumatoid arthritis, praised MSM's pain relieving benefits.

The history of MSM, as derived from DMSO, includes the following highlights:

• DMSO was first synthesized in a nineteenth century Russian lab, and was investigated for its usefulness as a solvent (a dissolver of other substances).
• British scientist Lovelock, working with red blood cells and cryogenics—the science of "alive freezing," reported DMSO as a uniquely helpful agent.
• Stanley Jacob, M.D., an American working in the 1950s to perfect kidney transplants, found Lovelock's report on cryogenic uses of DMSO, and met with DMSO chemist researcher, Robert Herschler, Ph.D.
• Drs. Jacob and Herschler discovered that DMSO, in addition to being useful in transplant surgery, facilitated delivery of other medications through the skin into the body, and that it had significant pain relieving and anti-inflammatory properties. They also discovered an undesirable effect of DMSO—a fishy taste and body odor.
• DMSO was approved for veterinary use (1970) in the treatment of joint and muscle related problems.
• In Russia (1973), prescription DMSO began use for the treatment of pain related to autoimmune disorders, arthritis, and diabetic ulcers. (One source reports as of 1999, more than 125 countries are using DMSO more safely and less expensively than drugs used for the same conditions in the United States.)
• In 1978, DMSO was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human use in the treatment of interstitial cystitis only, a painful inflammatory condition affecting many women.
• With lagging FDA approval, Herschler continued research and discovered that approximately 15% of DMSO turns into MSM in the body, and that the MSM metabolite produced the pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory benefits without the unpleasant odor side effect.
• Since that time, Drs. Jacob and Herschler, and others by anecdote, have found MSM to be clinically helpful in treating many more conditions, and that it is extremely safe, and has no known toxicity.

MSM occurs naturally in some foods including cow's milk (its highest source). One source specifies the presence of MSM—in descending order—in unpasteurized cow's milk, coffee, tomatoes, tea, Swiss chard, beer, corn, and alfalfa. Some reports say that natural levels of MSM decline with age. Dr. Herschler believes that the average diet is deficient in MSM because of the foods that are eaten or the way in which they are prepared. However, other sources refute the need for supplementing sulfur in the form of MSM, claiming that dietary sources of sulfur are sufficient. Sulfur-containing foods include cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower (these are all known as cruciferous vegetables), sunflower seeds, garlic, onions, asparagus, avocados, beans, peas, mustard, horse-radish, lentils, soybeans, and yogurt. Dietary sources of the three sulfur-containing amino acids—methionine, cystine, and cysteine—include meat, fish, poultry, eggs, milk, cheeses, and nuts, The cruciferous vegetables are reported to contain other sulfur compounds in addition to the sulfur-bearing amino acids. Nevertheless, many anecdotes cite the benefit of supplementing the diet with MSM.