From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: What foods contain these?
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:09:39 -0700
Message-ID: <a4um8a$iun$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>

"Martin Banschbach PhD" <mbansch@osu-com.okstate.edu> wrote in message
news:a4u66n$8q62@news.cis.okstate.edu...

> If you want to try something else, try MSM.  Sulfur is an essential mineral
> for humans and we probably don't get enough.

We need methionine, but why generically "sulfur"?  And what's "natural"
about MSM as a source of sulfur?  How about an egg a day instead? In theory
eggs are bad for you (the fat, the cholesterol), but epidemiologically this
doesn't bear out. They raise HDL, they're cheap, and they taste good.  More
than you can say for MSM.  Or lipoic acid, for that matter.

BTW, for those who are fans of the idea of nanotechnology, lipoic acid (also
"thioctic acid") is a key part of a very interesting nanomachine called the
"pyruvate dehydrogenase complex" (and also a similar alpha-ketoglutarate
dehydrogenase complex, further down the Krebs cycle). It possibly acts as an
arm which swings the template molecule from one active site to another in a
little assembly line of enzymes, all clustered together.

SBH

From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: What foods contain these?
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 20:47:27 -0700
Message-ID: <a4v6r1$e51$1@slb3.atl.mindspring.net>

"Martin Banschbach" <mbansch314@aol.com> wrote in message
news:cba7fed1.0202191939.572ba347@posting.google.com...
> "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com> wrote in message
>
> > We need methionine, but why generically "sulfur"?  And what's
> > "natural" about MSM as a source of sulfur?  How about an egg a day
> > instead? In theory eggs are bad for you (the fat, the cholesterol),
> > but epidemiologically this doesn't bear out. They raise HDL, they're
> > cheap, and they taste good. More than you can say for MSM.  Or lipoic
> > acid, for that matter.
>
> Actually elemental sulfur is listed as an essential major mineral for
> animals.


For ruminant animals. You're not one. If elemental sulfur is changed to any
sulfur compounds in YOUR gut, it will be in a place so far down that the
consequences are going to be more social than nutritional.

From: Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Sulfa/Sulfer Allergy
Date: 8 Jan 2005 22:58:08 -0800
Message-ID: <1105253888.276834.297610@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>

Look, there's no such thing as a generic sulfur allergy. If there were,
you'd be dead since all proteins contain sulfur. Ditto for sulfate
allergies-- they do not exist because sulfate is a normal metabolic
product and your blood and urine are full of it. If you had it, you'd
be dead. Drugs given as sulfate salts (eg morphine sulfate, magnesium
sulfate) never produce problems from the sulfate. Sulfate is safe.

There are people allergic to sulfites (NOTE spelling-- it's an i not an
a, and it's SO3= not SO4=). These have been used on foods and some
wines as antioxidants, and can cause asthmatic reactions. They are rare
in meds. The closest I can think of is metabisulfite in some IV meds.

Sulfides are quite rare the normal human environment, due to their
extremely high toxicity (lot of sulfide means dead people, and not from
allergy, from poisoning). I don't think they are allergins.

There are people who are allergic to sulfa drugs (ie, sulfonamide class
antibiotics), but these are not sulfur allergies per se-- rather
allergies to a very particular complex sulfur-containing chemical group
that is only present in some sulfa antibiotics and perhaps a few
similar diuretics (this allergy varies in scope). But these people
generally get skin reactions (red blotches) and they know who they are,
because they've really all first reacted to the sulfa antibiobic. This
is not something that generally is the same as the sulfite-sensitivity
that causes asthma. Rarely do people have them both, and you probably
don't.

So the real question is: which one of these many possible things do you
have?  What exactly caused your reaction in the past, and what was the
reaction?

SBH

From: Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Sulfa/Sulfer Allergy
Date: 12 Jan 2005 19:51:52 -0800
Message-ID: <1105588312.459635.288120@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>

Well, all the alkali metal sulfides (not just sodium) are soluble. And
of course very poisonous. I suppose it's true that insoluble sulfides
are not as poisonous (in rather the manner of insoluble barium
compounds), but I'm by no means sure of that. For example, I'd hate to
eat insoluble FeS, thinking of what my stomach acid would do to it.
You're right about H2S, and you probably no more want to have a lot of
it in your upper gut than you would hydrogen cyanide. Even the amount
made in the lower gut must be relatively miniscule (despite the smell)
or otherwise we wouldn't survive it.

When I said sulfides were "rare," what I really mean is that they exist
in the environment and foods in just trace amounts. But those traces
are reasonably common (as your nose tells you).

SBH