MSM Sulfur Compound Aids Metabolic Reactions in New Animal Study
Results of the study showed that supplementation with MSM, as a source of rapidly absorbed sulfur, can help spare the body’s stores of the amino acids cysteine and methionine.
Photo © Shutterstock.com/gwolters
Bergstrom Nutrition (Vancouver, WA), maker of the OptiMSM brand of methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), announced the results of a new animal study showing that supplementation with MSM, as a source of rapidly absorbed sulfur, can help spare the body’s stores of the amino acids cysteine and methionine.
Cysteine and methionine are the body’s principle dietary sources of the compound sulfur. But they may not be present in the diet in adequate amounts; further, the amino acids might be better put to use as participants in other biological processes than as sources of sulfur. That being the case, MSM-which has multiple health benefits of its own-can step in for cysteine and methionine as a sulfur source. A recent study1 investigated MSM absorption in the small intestine and accumulation of the associated sulfur in selected tissues over eight days of supplementation in juvenile male mice.
Speaking in a press statement, Tim Hammond, vice president of sales and marketing at Bergstrom Nutrition, said: “The study found oral ingestion of OptiMSM provides the body with a rapidly absorbed, readily available, constant supply of sulfur.” Further, that sulfur “relieves the bioburden of essential amino acids cysteine and methionine, thereby ensuring sufficient quantity available for critical metabolic processes.”
Randal Buddington, director of the Institute of Prematurity and Perinatal Research at the University of Memphis and principal investigator for the study, added: “We recently discovered that MSM provides the sulfur needed for many of the body’s metabolic reactions, including sulfation, which is the process of adding sulfur to molecules.” This frees up more of the sulfur-containing and essential amino acid, methionine, for use synthesizing proteins and other important molecules, he noted. “This all points to yet another health benefit of MSM and an additional reason to supplement the diet with this ample source of sulfur.”
Bergstrom Nutrition funded the study.
References:
- Wong T et al., “Small intestinal absorption of methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) and accumulation of the sulfur moiety in selected tissues of mice.” Nutrients, vol. 10, no. 1 (2018): 19
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