Love Street Living Foods

What Causes Joint Pain?

Osteoarthritis (OA) and physical strain can lead to joint pain and swelling. MSM has been shown to relieve pain associated with OA. It has also shown anti-inflammatory effects in animal research.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a nearly universal consequence of aging among vertebrates. Over 40 million Americans have some form of degenerative joint disease, including 80% of people over 50 years old. By the seventh decade, OA is nearly universal, producing the highest rate of morbidity of any disease.

Joints affected by OA suffer from uneven loading, which leads to altered lines of weight bearing. Cartilage (made by cells called chondrocytes) begins to build up to compensate for the uneven load, which forms roughening and deformities in the joint surface. The joints inflame and no longer operate smoothly, but instead the ball and socket rub unevenly from the friction of the outgrowths of cartilage and bone, called osteophytes. These changes cause irritation, triggering more cartilage growth and inflammation--  and the cycle of degeneration is set into motion. Science has been unsuccessful in finding a cure for OA, so instead, treatment focuses on easing the symptoms.

Sports injuries, tennis elbow, and tendonitis involve inflammation and micro-trauma to the soft tissues around the joints.

The inflammation caused by these injuries can easily become chronic due to overuse or improper after-care, resulting in symptoms not unlike arthritis: soreness, stiffness, and general pain in the region.

The Role of Sulfur in Joint Pain

MSM is thought to deliver sulfur to the body in a useable way. Sulfur helps maintain the structure of connective tissue by forming cross-linkages through disulfide bonds, i.e., sulfur strengthens the tissues that make up the joint.
Sulfur is critical to good joint health. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are the fundamental building blocks of joint cartilage, and GAG molecules are linked together in chains by disulfide bonds. As the name implies, these bonds are between two sulfur atoms. The disulfide bridges reduce conformational flexibility of GAG chains, making cartilage firm and resilient. Cartilage integrity is thus a sulfur-dependent state.

MSM contains a lot of sulfur – 34% by weight. While more research is needed to determine how the body absorbs the sulfur it needs from MSM, preliminary studies in mice and in horses suggest that the sulfur in MSM is incorporated into proteins and into joint tissues.

How is MSM Manufactured?

MSM occurs naturally in many common foods such as tomatoes and milk. However, its concentrations are so small that it is not feasible to commercially "extract it from nature." Commercial MSM of high purity is chemically identical to that found in nature.

All MSM is manufactured using a chemical synthesis process of reacting two raw materials, dimethyl sulfoxide  and hydrogen peroxide.  This reaction forms a new molecule: MSM or dimethyl sulfone. After reaction, a purification process is needed to remove any impurities from the MSM.  Two commonly accepted purification processes used in most chemical and food processing plants are distillation and crystallization.  Distillation is the favored process for producing high purity MSM, where heat is used to separate compounds by their unique boiling points.  MSM has a boiling point of 478ºF. The distillation of MSM results in a very pure product.  Conversely, purification by crystallization can be adversely affected by the use of impure solvents,  potentially leaving undesirable or toxic by-products.

If MSM is not manufactured properly, or is produced in a facility that makes multiple products with improper sanitation procedures, contamination is likely. There may also be a chance that impurities (such as heavy metals or chlorinated hydrocarbons) from the water used in the synthesis and crystallization process will remain in the final product.

Other factors that determine the purity of synthesized MSM is consistent product formulation and strict process control procedures. A good MSM manufacturer uses in-process control and rigorous product testing to ensure the product is indeed pure.
The nutrition industry has established standards for testing MSM material so that all manufacturers use the same types of procedures and instruments for testing. These standards are developed by AOAC International, an independent, NIH-sponsored, FDA-endorsed international community of analytical chemists. Industry guidelines recommend that raw material and finished products manufacturers use these accepted methods to ensure consistent quality. These methods establish "a gold standard" by which all products can be uniformly measured.