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MSM Supplement Center

MSM General Information
MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane or Methyl Sulfonyl Methane) is a naturally occurring sulfur compound that plays a crucial role in forming muscles, nails, hair and skin as well as building healthy cells. In their book, The Miracle of MSM; The Natural Solution for Pain, Stanley W. Jacob, M.D. and Ronald M. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D. say: “MSM offers a natural way to reduce pain and inflammation without serious side effects. MSM may even deliver as much or even more relief as some of the standard painkillers – MSM just doesn’t work as fast. That’s because MSM is not a drug; MSM is a nutritional supplement. But you will often begin to experience noticeable easing of pain and discomfort, along with more energy, and in general feel better, within days of starting MSM.”¹

MSM relieves; MSM does not cure. Many years of clinical use at Oregon Health Sciences University have demonstrated that MSM provides major pain relief through the following actions:

• MSM inhibits pain impulses along nerve fibers (analgesic effect)
• MSM lessens inflammation
• MSM increases blood supply
• MSM reduces muscle spasm
• MSM aids in the softening of scar tissue

MSM won’t cure an illness such as arthritis or lupus. The dictionary defines cure as an elimination of disease. MSM doesn’t do that. For example, we don’t cure diabetes with insulin. We control it. What MSM does is to serve as a natural remedy to relieve the pain, inflammation and many symptoms of illness. Generally, MSM provides relief for as long as you take it, although sometimes health problems don’t return even if you stop taking MSM.

Dr. Stanley Jacob reports that he found MSM produced many – but not all of the DMSO effects. He considers the following to be MSM’s most significant actions:

• MSM is an analgesic. MSM relieves pain.
• MSM reduces inflammation.
• MSM passes through cellular membranes of the body, including the skin.
• MSM dilates blood vessels (vasodilation) and increases blood flow.
• MSM is a cholinesterase inhibitor. Cholinsterase is an enzyme that stops excessive passage of nerve impulses from one nerve cell to another. I have seen MSM provide swift relief of constipation associated with aging. By blocking the action of cholinesterase, MSM helps restore normal bowel activity (peristalsis).
• MSM reduces muscle spasm. Injury or inflammations commonly cause spasm in a muscle or group of muscles. Spasm involves a sudden contraction, which is followed by pain and interference with function. Spasm can be felt by a physician’s touch or measured with electromyography. If you apply an MSM gel or cream to an affected area and then feel the muscle again later, or measure it electrically, the muscle is looser, the area less tender. MSM taken orally produces a muscle-relaxing effect.
• MSM alters the cross linking process in collagen, thus reducing scar tissue. Cross linking is the process in which new structural proteins are knitted to existing healthy tissue at the sites of surgical incisions or traumatic damage in the body.
• MSM has antiparasitic properties, particularly for giardia, a protozoan parasite that causes diarrhea.
• MSM has an immune normalizing effect, as observed in some autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and scleroderma.

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Excerpts from the book "The MSM Miracle, Enhance your health with organic sulfur" by Earl L. Mindell, R.Ph.,Phd.

"MSM is a dietary element derived from many raw foods... MSM is neither a medicine nor a drug. MSM is a member of the sulfur family but should never be confused with sulfa drugs, to which some people are allergic. MSM has been used as a dietary supplement for several years. Acute, intermediate and long term studies indicate that MSM exhibits very low toxicity no matter how it is administered. How low? MSMs profile is similar to that of water! Within limits you cannot overdose with MSM because the body will take and use whatever it needs, and after a 12-hour period flush any excess amounts from the body.

"Sulfur is highly important. Approximately half of the total body sulfur is concentrated in the muscles, skin and bones. Sulfur is necessary for making collagen, the primary constituent of cartilage and connective tissue. It is responsible for the formation of body proteins through the formation of disulfide bonds, which hold connective tissue together.

"MSM has been shown to add flexibility to cell walls while allowing fluids to pass through the tissue more easily. MSM enhances tissue pliability and encourages the repair of damaged skin."²

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MSM Natural Sources
Methyl-sulfonyl-methane (MSM) is a naturally occurring sulfur compound found in the human body as well as in many common beverages and foods, including milk, coffee, tea and green vegetables. In its purified chemical form, MSM is an odorless, essentially tasteless, white, water soluble crystalline solid. MSM is one of the least toxic substances in biology, similar in toxicity to water.

MSM is a relative to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a unique therapeutic agent used worldwide in the treatment of many painful and inflammatory conditions. MSM has many of DMSO's properties, but without the oyster-like odor and other side effects.

Naturally occurring sulfur, such as that found in MSM, is not similar to inorganic sulfides, sulfites and sulfates to which many people are allergic.

Dietary MSM comes from fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, meats, seafood, and milk. Processing or cooking of these products, however, destroys or greatly reduces actual MSM content. MSM researcher Robert Hershcler says: "MSM is shy, evasive and escape-prone. While present naturally when food is very fresh, it can be driven out of any food by even moderate processing. People, generally speaking, will be sulfur-deficient unless they eat their fish and meat raw and their vegetables unwashed and uncooked." MSM levels in humans decline with age, resulting in symptoms of fatigue, tissue and organ malfunction, and increased susceptibility to disease.³

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References

1. Jacob, Stanley W. M.D., Lawrence, Ronald M. M.D., Ph.D., Zucker, Martin. The Miracle of MSM; The Natural Solution for Pain. New York: Berkley Books, 1999.
2. Mindell Earl L. The MSM Miracle, Enhance your health with organic sulfur"
3. Jacob, Stanley, and Robert Herschler. Pharmacology of DMSO: Cryobiology, 1986.

Non-footnoted items are published with the exclusive permission of Carolwood Corporation.

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