Unpastuerized milk is a particularly rich dietary source of it, and small amounts of MSM are found in fruits, vegetables, and grains. Food refining and processing removes MSM much the way it reduces vitamin and mineral levels. Frustrated, Jacob admits that much more research has to be conducted. MSM, which is about 34 percent sulfur by weight, may work in large part by donating the mineral to a broad range of normal biochemical processes in the body. Ironically, while sulfur is one of the most abundant minerals in the body, it has been one of the least researched.
Sulfur is an important building block.
Alexander Schauss, Ph.D., director of the American Institute for Biosocial Research, Tacoma, Wash., concurs. It's taken for granted and neglected. But like any mineral, when it's in short supply, it has a rate-limiting effect that interferes with normal body processes. Much of the knowledge of MSM gets back to Jacob's clinical findings in treating a wide range of conditions, as well as animal experiments by many different researchers. DMSO and MSM have very similar effects, says Jacob.