MSM (METHYLSULFONYL METHANE)

Dupuytrens contracture and MSM are a natural combination. This article explains why MSM is so frequently used in Alternative Medicine treatment plans for connective tissue disorders, like Dupuytrens contracture.

Description
MSM stands for methylsulfonyl methane. It is a breakdown product of DMSO, an odorless, water-soluble, white crystalline material that supplies readily absorbable dietary sulfur to the body. Sulfur in the body is found in over 150 compounds that initiate, promote or stabilize several dozen functions. It is needed for healthy connective tissue and joint function, proper enzyme activity, and hormone balance and immune function throughout the body.

MSM is not a wonder drug – although many people think it is. It is neither a medicine nor a food additive. It is simply a basic nutrient found in abundance in the world around us – rainwater is loaded with it – and in our foods – milk, fruits, meats and vegetables. MSM is the natural form of organic sulfur found in all living organisms. MSM is the 8th most abundant substance in the body by weight, and it is the 3rd most abundant mineral in the body. A 200-pound man has approximately five pounds of sulfur in body weight.

Key Importance of MSM
Without proper levels of MSM, vitamins, minerals and amino acids are not incorporated into our systems. As a result our bodies are unable to build good healthy cells, and this leads to illness. New cells are produced 24 hours a day. If the body doesn't receive the various nutrition materials it needs, weak, abnormal and unhealthy cells will develop. To develop and maintain good health, it is necessary to supplement our diets with all the nutrients necessary for health, including MSM, to enable the body to heal itself. Your body knows what it needs better than anyone, even your doctor. It will use MSM wherever it is needed in your system. Give your body the MSM it needs so it can have the good nutrition necessary for healing and repair.

Talk to your doctor about including this important nutrient into your treatment plan. The use of MSM is relatively new in nutrition, and no significant clinical research has been reported yet, so your doctor might not be familiar with MSM. It might be helpful to your doctor if you give her/him this article as you ask her/him about it.

After vitamin E, DCI believes that MSM is the most important nutrient needed for the conservative treatment of Dupuytrens contracture.

Dupuytrens contracture Connection
There are numerous and important biological effects of MSM in the human body:

• Relieves pain.
• Reduces inflammation.
• Dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow.
• Reduces muscle spasms.
• Anti-parasitic properties, particularly for trichomonas and protozoan parasites that cause diarrhea.
• Immune normalizing effect, as observed in rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma.
• Alters the crosslinking process in collagen, thus reducing scar tissue. Crosslinking 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. If there aren't sufficient building materials in the body to make new cells properly, this crosslinking can be rather crude, or lead to an excessive build-up of scar tissue. Aside from being unsightly, this scar tissue can also be painful if there is not enough blood circulation and nerve supply. MSM softens the tissue, making it more flexible so the tissue can be reformed as new cells are made.

Critical to the Dupuytrens contracture issue, sulfur as found in MSM can favorably influence scar tissue not only as it is being formed after injury but it can also have a beneficial effect on established scar tissue.(1,5)

Another great reason to add MSM to your treatment plan is the beneficial effect it has on many other nutrients in the body. MSM is considered a potentiator, enhancer or promoter of most vitamins and nutrients (vitamin A, C, all Bs, D and E, coenzyme Q10, amino acids, selenium, calcium, magnesium and many others). MSM improves the cellular uptake of all of these nutrients, and prolongs their availability and activity in the body.(1,3,4)

Studies suggest that the level of MSM in the body decreases with aging.(4) This is an interesting observation about MSM – that it decreases with age – since Dupuytrens contracture is seen on average in people after the age of 50. This information tends to support the idea that a reduced MSM level could predispose or contribute in some way to any contracture process.

By including MSM in your nutritional program you are better able to utilize all of your nutrients, making your dietary supplementation more efficient and cost effective since they are working harder for you.

MSM Product Recommendation
DCI recommends an MSM product from Douglas Laboratory, called Fundamental Sulfur. This tablet contains 500 mg of MSM, and includes 100 mg of vitamin C and 25 mcg of molybdenum (mo-lib’-de-num). These last two ingredients are included in this tablet to assist sulfur absorption and metabolism in the body. Douglas Laboratory is a great company with a 50-year history as a leader and innovator in the nutrition industry. We are very confident of the quality of this product and know that you will be also, once you begin to use it and see results.

For ideas and suggestions to put it all together, click Create a Dupuytrens Treatment Plan.
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Dupuytrens contracture and Peyronie’s disease connection
There are many statistical and clinical similarities between Dupuytrens contracture and Peyronie’s disease. So much so, that there is even a connection between treatment that has benefited one condition being also potentially beneficial for the other. Because of this, it is common to learn from men who are being treated with a PDI therapy program for their Peyronie’s disease that their concurrent Dupuytrens contracture is also improving.

Therefore, when one study shows that Peyronies disease is benefited by MSM, it can be of interest to someone with Dupuytrens contracture.

Want to learn more technical information on this subject?

The sister organization for the Dupuytrens Contracture Institute (DCI) is the Peyronie’s Disease Institute (PDI). There are many statistical and pathophysiological similarities between these two conditions, that the same group of doctors who created PDI have also developed DCI. Many men who have Peyronie’s disease note that their Dupuytrens contracture also improves. Therefore, there appears to be a natural confluence of interest between these two problems. What can be said for one problem can be said of the other, especially in terms of treatment.

For ideas and suggestions putting DMSO and other goodies into a treatment plan, click Create a Dupuytrens Treatment Plan.

On the website of the larger PDI website you will find a more detailed discussion and instruction of this topic. Just click here to learn more about MSM on the PDI website.

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1. Ley, B.M.: The Forgotten Nutrient MSM: on Our Way Back to Health with Sulfur. Health Learning Handbooks, BL Publications, California: 1998.
2. Herschler, R.J.: Dietary Products and Uses Comprising Methylsulfonylmethane. United States Patent 4,863,748: 1989.
3. Mindell, E.L.: The MSM Miracle. Enhance Your Health with Organic Sulfur. Good Health Guides, Keats Publishing, Inc, Connecticut, USA: 1997.
4. Jacob, S.W: The Current Status of MSM in Medicine. Am. Acad. Med. Prev., 1983.
5. Herschler, R.J.: Methylsulfonylmethane and Methods of Use. United States Patent 4,296,130: 1981.
6. Jacob, S.W. and Herschler, R.J.: Introductory Remarks: Dimethylsulfoxide after Twenty Years. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.: 1983.