An Article from

LE Magazine September 1999

MSM
(methyl-sulfonyl-methane), also known as dimethyl sulfone, is a naturally occurring sulfur compound, found in human diets and those of virtually all other vertebrates. In its purified form, it is an odorless, slightly bitter tasting, water soluble, white, crystalline powder containing 34% elemental sulfur. Its chemical formula is (CH3)2SO2.

Some atmospheric chemists have suggested that MSM and its related compounds, DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide), and DMS (dimethylsulfide) provide the source for 85% of sulfur compounds in all living organisms. These naturally occurring compounds begin in the ocean where phytoplankton convert inorganic sulfur present in the sea water to terniary dimethyl sulfonium salts. These salts are later broken down, by enzymatic action, into the volatile compound called dimethylsulfide (DMS), which escapes the ocean as a gas, rises into the upper atmosphere to be oxidized there in the presence of ozone and ultraviolet light to its chemical cousins, DMSO and MSM. Unlike DMS, both DMSO and MSM are water soluble and are returned to the earth in rain. Plants rapidly absorb the two compounds, concentrating them up to a hundred-fold. Animals eat the plants and the distribution of these sulfur compounds is then complete. MSM has been found in the blood and adrenal glands of cows. Cows' milk contains between two and six parts per million MSM.

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