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Bioavailable Sulfur
What is not well understood by many vitamin companies and certainly not by medical doctors is how one substance that might be good, by itself, can be combined with some other good substance -- with the result that neither of them is then useful.
The r
everse is also true.
Table salt, considered safe and useful, is a chemical combination of one toxic substance, chlorine and safe sodium.
What element is combined with what other element, how, has a whole lot to do with bioavailabilty since bioavailabilty SHOULD have to do with enhancement of life (my definition, below).
Also there are chemical forms of various elements -- where one form is safe and another is not. Sulfur is a good example of this.
"Good" sulfur is good, while "bad" sulfur is not.
How can you tell? Well, Sulfur gets into a form called "Sulfite" and that is not good for you.
Some animals are allergic to sulfites, and may have difficulty breathing within minutes of eating a food containing sulfites. [Karl Note: My tropical fish die when too many fish are added too quickly to the tank -- too much fish waste -- ammonia, turns into NITRITES which kill fish -- SULFITES have a similar action on some animals.] Asthmatics and people with allergies to aspirin (also know as salicylate sensitivity) are at an elevated risk for reaction to sulfites. The reaction can be fatal and requires immediate treatment at an emergency room, and can include sneezing, swelling of the throat, and hives. Those who are allergic to sulfites are urged to avoid products that could contain them. (source)
Sulfur also exists in the form of "sulfide" also not good for you!
Organic sulfides are highly flammable. When a sulfide burns, the fumes usually include toxic sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas.
Hydrogen sulfide, some of its salts, and almost all organic sulfides have a strong and putrid stench, as rotting biomass releases these. Mercaptans, in particular, are the strongest-smelling substances known. (source) Click on image for larger version.
Sulfur in the form of "Sulfate?" Another bad one.
Sulfates occur as microscopic particles (aerosols) resulting from fossil fuel and biomass combustion. They increase the acidity of the atmosphere and form acid rain. (source)
What is a good form of sulfur? MSM or Biosulf. How about the famous "sulfa" drugs? Sulfur actually got a bad name from the early "sulfa drugs" even though they saved many lives -- because some number were alergic to them.
Approximately 3% of the general population have adverse reactions when treated with sulfonamide antimicrobials. Of note is the observation that patients with HIV have a much higher prevalence, at about 60%[1]. People who have a hypersensitivity reaction to one member of the sulfonamide class are likely to have a similar reaction to others. (source)
What about "pure" sulfur?
Sulfur is an essential component of all living cells.(source)
How can you tell if you have the safe form of sulfur? The compound includes carbon -- that is the usual test. In the link just above this paragraph (pure sulfur) there is a list of "organic sulfur" compounds, including the raw material from which Biosulf is made. Here is the molecular model for a common organic sulfur. Sulfur is the large yellowish ball. The grey balls are carbon and hydrogen combinations.
DMSO is the organic sulfur, raw material, from which both MSM and Biosulf are manufactured.
Use of DMSO in medicine dates from around 1963, when a University of Oregon Medical School team, headed by Stanley Jacob, discovered it could penetrate the skin and other membranes without damaging them and could carry other compounds into a biological system.
In a 1978 study at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, researchers concluded that DMSO brought significant relief to the majority of the 213 patients with inflammatory genitourinary disorders that were studied. They recommended DMSO for all inflammatory conditions not caused by infection or tumor in which symptoms were severe or patients failed to respond to conventional therapy. (source)
The one doctor who most made DMSO famous was Dr. Stanley Jacob. His background and story about DMSO is here. DMSO is definitely safe to use for most people and may be considered "bioavailable" depending on other factors. Drug companies don't usually consider many "other factors," so they find many things to be "bioavailable" that I wouldn't take.
The usual definition of Bioavailable as far as a drug goes is simple -- it just has to get into the blood stream.
In Karl's blunt and simplified terms, Drug bioavailabilty is defined as what reaches the blood stream (source for the actual technical definition -- far more complex but virtually the same)
Most other uses of the word Bioavailabilty also measure whether or not the substance REACHES the blood system, or some cells -- not whether the substance is of any good use to that system and not whether some other substance may arrive at the same time and neutralize the value of the first substance.
The guy eats watermellon for breakfast and we are testing Vitamin ZZ. It is a known fact that watermellon prevents the absorption of Vitamin ZZ, but "otherwise" Vitamin ZZ is easily absorbed by anyone. Vitamin ZZ is NOT bioavailable for this person as long as he continues to eat watermellon.
Generally medical drugs are like sledge hammers while sulfur is more like a feather. It doesn't take much to make sulfur impure and bio-UNAVAILABLE -- it takes a real sledge hammer to stop aspirin from deadening your nerves.
I am taking this word (bioavailabilty) to a far more useful definition.
Here is mine:
There is a matrix, a purpose, for different physical universe substances, such as iron, calcium, sulfur, etc. Many of these substances exist in different forms. When one or another form of some such substance reaches the RIGHT place in the body and functions properly to promote life, it MAY be available TO and FOR life. IF, IF, IF, it then enhances life more than it harms life for THAT person, it was bioavailable for that person at that time. That is and should be biochemistry. Alas! Biochemistry is now the study of what effects (often on rats!) are caused without concern for whether or not some specific human life is enhanced.
It turns out that even I did not know it, but the Methyl Sulfonyl Methane (MSM) that I have sold for many years is far more bioavailable than any other sold in the United States.
Truly pure MSM has not really existed == even mine! There are degrees of bioavailabilty -- as there are degrees of life enhancement -- it is not a black and white matter. Some sugar is good for you -- too much will kill you. Most MSM will do some good for you, but MSM COULD do so much more if it were more bioavailable -- it is now. It is Biosulf.
I called that early MSM to be organic sulfur -- as did everyone else -- but I didn't really know what organic sulfur is until very recently (mid 2007). "Organic Sulfur" is really a worthless term since the only accurate definition of "organic" is that the substance contains carbon. The inclusion of carbon in some compound does NOT make it bioavailable or life enhancing by itself.
This word, "natural," is like the word organic. Many people, today, think that an "organic vitamin" must have been made from something which was alive. In their minds "natural" and "organic" are quite similar -- they also think that "artificial" is the opposite of "organic" and that "artificial" means "bad."
More than 200 years ago the word "organic" meant that the material was, at one time, a living thing. Trees, plants and animals, in this sense, are organic, and when they are dead, their remains are still organic.
I am fond of old dictionaries and have one published in "A Standard Dictionary of the English Language," published by Funk & Wagnalls Company, London and Toronto, 1895. Here is the definition of "organic" from that dictionary:
or-gan-ic, adj.
1. Biol. (1) Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of organisms, or animals and plants; having or consisting of organs; as organic remains.
"The various living things or those which have possessed life, compose The Organic World."
Asa Gray: Field-Book of Botany lesson i, p. 1 (I. B&Co. '68)
(2) Of, pertaining to, or affecting an organ or organs, as, organic diseases.
(3) Serving the purpose of an organ.
2. Chem. Containing carbon as an essential ingredient; originally confined to carbon compounds in organisms.
At first the term organic was supposed to be due to vital force, and it was so used until 1828 when Wohler artificially prepared urea, a distinct product of animal life. The term has continued to expand in its meaning until at present any line of demarcation between organic and inorganic compounds is arbitrary rather than natural.
A useful practical distinction between organic and inorganic substances is afforded by their behaviour when heated. An organic substance is either converted into vapour when moderately heated, or is decomposed into volatile products, generally leaving a residue of charcoal which burns away when heated in air.
C. I. Bloxam: Chemistry P 314, p. 468. (P. B. & Co. '90)
Click here to read a bit about Frederick Wohler. His "discovery" of urea was revolutionary at the time, and prompted this:
"This organic synthesis dealt a severe blow to a widespread belief called "vitalism" which maintained that organic chemicals could be modified by chemistry but could only be produced through the agency of a vital force present in living plants and animals."
So, starting in the early 1800's the term "organic" began to shift in meaning -- the definition became much more vague than earlier when it simply meant "derived from something once alive."
In this sense, rocks were not considered organic even though they might, millions of years ago, have been trees -- now crushed and turned into rock.
In the mid 1800's crude oil was discovered. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., recognized that crude oil did not LOOK like it was organic. It came out of the ground in great quantities. In those years there was a glut of too much crude oil and Rockefeller saw that the value of his crude oil reserves would fall unless, somehow, he made crude oil scarce.
One thing he did (very well known) was to establish his own monopoly for crude oil -- so he could keep the prices high artificially.
But, something else he did is not as well known.
He figured that if people regarded crude oil as "organic" (that is, derived from plants) they would think that there was a limited supply of the stuff on the planet and the value would go up.
He joined in the support
for making "organic" mean "contains carbon" and since crude oil included a great deal of carbon he promoted the mixed message that "crude oil is organic -- and since everyone knows that organic means derived from plants, there must be a limited resource of this crude oil."
He then created an entire myth that crude oil was formed from dinosaurs and plants covered by earth and rocks -- millions of years ago. I'll leave for another day the expose of that lie -- but consi
der the magnitude of the harm done to us by John D. Rockefeller, Sr.!! That myth was exploded in an article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on April 16, 1999. Click here to review that astonishing information -- crude oil DOES NOT come from decayed dinosaurs! (Look for the link to the page that proves there is no shortage of crude oil reserves!)
So, even today, you can study "organic chemistry" in college -- the chemistry of substances containing carbon. (The above, indented section is excerpted from here.)
Oh, yes! The other MSM, and mine, did a wonderful job of reducing the pain of arthritis and even did other good things. Mine did it better because it was more pure, but the difference was not great.
But calling my MSM "organic sulfur" was not very helpful when I discovered that there was another form, Biosulf, which also contains carbon and COULD be called organic, but is as different as night from day.
But only now have I learned how small an impurity and what type of impurity can make a huge difference in something like sulfur.
Let's take a look.
PURE sulfur, in theory, would be what is listed in the Periodic Table of Elements -- as number 16. But that is NOT organic sulfur -- that is "elemental sulfur" and would be toxic to you if you ate it.
But elemental sulfur hardly exists anywhere since sulfur combines with every other element to make some new compound -- and carbon is contained in many of those compounds. These compounds could be called organic sulfur -- since the technical definition of "organic" is that it contains carbon.
So, it now becomes clear that SOME organic sulfur could be toxic while others not!!
This is an interesting twist to the beginning page of this web site where I wrote that life depended on sulfur -- when oxygen was not around -- back in those days it was probably also"organic" sulfur since carbon has the highest melting point of any element and could easily be attached to sulfur and stay stuck to it through a mere volcanic eruption.
In other words, if you found sulfur of almost any form, and heated it beyond its usual melting point (240 ° F) , could it possibly be "organic" sulfur?? YES.
This brings us back to the miracle of early life that lived on sulfur -- it was probably not organic sulfur -- but inorganic sulfur (no carbon included). But, we know that could have been true true anyway because we have, even today, so many microorganisms (if the soil is any good) that EAT inorganic minerals and convert them into organic (containing carbon) minerals.
It is somewhat different for sulfur -- you can start with toxic organic sulfur, wherever it may be found, and LIFE (trees) plus microorganisms at the roots of the trees, convert it to non toxic organic but not human digestible form. You then pour deadly toxic sulfuric acid (not an organic form of sulfur) on the tree and form safe DMSO (waste product) which can be used by humans. What a series of miracles.
The chemistry of life is fascinating -- it may be called "biochemistry" and the term "bioavailable" should be properly applied to the USE of some chemical for MAN (or animals), not just closeness of some chemical in a form that living, but non-animal USES to promote life, such as how a microorganism uses the same chemical to produce something which a man (or plant) can use.
Drugs generally kill bacteria and other living things (cells) which some doctor has decided have taken on the role of the enemy in the body (a cancer cell is "alive" and wants to live -- but its method of living in the body causes other problems -- including death -- so drug are used to KILL that living cell). (The image is a cartoon of a person with the flu taking a drug.)
What a mess this drugged world is!
This page is published to demonstrate that you should not use Biosulf because it is organic sulfur -- the word "organic" has no useful meaning.
You should not even use Biosulf because is is bioavailable -- since that word has no standard meaning.
You should try Biosulf to find out if it will do for you what it has done for many others -- regenerate cells, tissues and even organs.
Here is an article from the popular press on the increasing recognition of examination the eye -- where blood vessels can be seen without invasion -- and where you can see both degeneration and regeneration of blood vessels -- the basic on regeneration of cells in the body.
A study in Australia has shown that changes occur in blood vessels in the eyes of heavier and obese children from as young as six, warning signs that might be linked to cardiovascular disease in later life.
Previously, these changes - widening of veins and narrowing of arteries - were only observed in the retinas of heavy teenagers and adults, and this is the first time that such troubling signs have been seen in children so young. (source)
