Super Food: MSM

My latest superfood discovery and main proponent in my Holistic Skin Tonic is MSM. Many (many!) of you have contacted me since to ask what exactly is MSM. Well boys and girls I am here today to teach you. Take notes.

MSM – The Missing Ingredient to Your Health

MSM is short for Methyl Sulfonyl Methane (Sulfur) and is a natural and organic compound and is found in natural human diets. We can get MSM through our diets but only if we eat plant foods that have been in direct content with rain water (since that is how MSM spreads through nature). Seeing as how a lot of crops nowadays are grown in green houses and watered through irrigation, MSM deficiency is very common. Cooking destroys MSM so even if you pick sulfur-containing foods you are likely in need of a boost if you don’t eat a large percentage of your diet raw.

Our bodies need sulfur to keep our cells permeable, meaning they have the ability to let nutrients in and toxins out. Therefore, without MSM, all nutrients become less efficient in the body if we are sulfur deficient.

Common signs of MSM deficiency
* Acne
* Rashes
* Arthritis
* Brittle hair and nails
* Weak immune system
* Poor digestion
* Lingering (muscular) injuries
* Memory loss
* Scarring / slow wound healing
* Wrinkly skin

MSM is present in every cell of the human body, including muscle, hair, skin and nails and is structurally and functionally important to 150 compounds, including hormones, enzymes, antibodies and antioxidants. Because of this, deficiency can lead to a varied array of ailments and supplementing with MSM can alleviate these. Sulfur is a building block of many proteins, some of which are involved in pain relief, skin renewal and detoxing. In short, supplementing your diet with MSM will detox your cells and make them strong and healthy, which causes a ripple effect of health throughout your whole body.

Conditions That Have Reportedly Responded to MSM Supplements
* Acne
* Allergies (by neutralizing foreign proteins)
* Arthritis
* Asthma
* Candida Yeast Infections
* Chronic Fatigue
* Constipation
* Diabetes
* Digestive Disorders
* Fragile Hair & Nails
* Migraine Headaches
* Muscle Pain & Cramps (prevents soreness)
* Parasites
* Skin Damage & Aging
* Toxic Build-up
* Ulcers
* Other reviews I have come across: more flexibility in Yoga class and prevention of saggy skin with significant weight loss.

As you can gather from this long list, MSM is really essential to overall health and wellbeing and supplementing can bring your health and vitality to new levels.

Whole Foods or Supplementation?

Because of the issues related to dietary MSM mentioned above, I recommend supplementing with MSM powder, which is simply dried and ground MSM from a whole foods source (mostly pine trees). Because of it’s strong detoxifying effects you better start off with a small amount and increase over time, but in general even large doses of MSM are safe. In a 12 hour time span the body utilizes the amount of MSM needed and flushes out the excess through urine, much like most (water soluble) vitamins. However to prevent detox symptoms (like fatigue and breakouts), start with 1/4 tablespoon twice daily (morning and evening). Work your way up to 1-4 tablespoons a day, ideally. MSM is best mixed with juice, lemon water (like in my Holistic Skin Tonic) or fresh orange juice because MSM is absorbed better alongside vitamin C. MSM powder is more concentrated than capsules and MSM gel is also available for topical treatment of scars, wrinkles and rashes.

MSM powder is available at iHerb.com, raw food resellers and local vitamin stores (though it can be pricier there).