Category Archives: sulfur

Taking Out the Cellular Trash

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It is a bright sunny day.  I am anxious with the anticipation of sun on my face and then,

“Mark”

“Yes dear.”

“Will you take out the trash before you go into the sun?”

Our cells just like my wife are constant in their alerting you cells have become clogged with trash that needs to be removed.  You feel down and out or have not waked completely from that long restful sleep.  So how does the body get rid of this cellular trash?  There are many mechanisms that are responsible at the cellular level for removal of left over fragments  from the normal respiration of the energy engines of the cells – mitochondrial bodies.

Over looked in this array of ‘trash removal’ is the need for sulfate to form water soluble esters that latch onto the fragments and remove them through the normal process in the kidneys.  The esters will grab onto anything that is a carbon radical or metal that should be removed.  This includes things like the method used to detoxify the liver when one has taken too much acetaminophen.  The common practice is to use methionine, a high sulfur protein.  Sulfur, as sulfate, also acts to remove metal from the brain such as toxic aluminum.  Aluminum is one of the toxins implicated in Alzheimer disease.  I suspect that other diseases that are hard to define are also a result of the clogging of energy engines in the cells like fibromyalgia.

Municipalities spends millions each year in removing the hardness from our water that most commonly occurs as sodium and calcium sulfate.  If the content of this ‘essential’ mineral is too high in the water, above 500 ppm, it will lead to an uncomfortable taste.  If the high mineral water comes into contact with a carbonate, it will precipitate in the pipes as a hard calcium deposit.  This is not that dissimilar to what happens in your arteries when you develop plaque, which is mostly a calcium plaque.

Vitamin D controls the balance of minerals in our bodies.  Vitamin D3 and its metabolites along with vitamin K2 act to help the body take care of calcium in the metabolic process of the body.  Vitamin D is particularly beneficial in controlling the sodium sulfate co-transporters that can be found in the dermal linings of all parts of the body as well as all the organs.    “Critical role of vitamin D in sulfate homeostasis: regulation of the sodium-sulfate cotransporter by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 ” Bolt, et.al. Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, May 27, 2004. 

Are you getting enough sulfur as inorganic sulfur?  The science is very thin on this subject.  You may find this article helpful from the USDA website:  “Sulfate” (pdf) The authors state that most of the sulfur in our diets comes from the turnover of sulfur rich proteins both from plants and meats.  However, it also describes the body’s need for the inorganic sulfate.   How can you assure that you are getting enough sulfur?  Many nutritionist that ascribe to the paleo diet suggest you need at least three cups of cruciferous and allium vegetables per day in addition to the other proteins that you get from your normal diet.  Here is a helpful post from the Dr. Mercola website:  “Dr Reverses MS in 9 Months by Eating These Foods”    Also this full free text article from Pub Med “Allium vegetables and organosulfur compounds: do they prevent cancer?”     Please note the volatile compounds listed in this article are all sulfates.  This is what causes your eyes to tear when you cut into an onion.  The volatile sulfate forms sulfuric acid in your eyes and results in the ‘burn.’

Listen to your Mom when she says, “Eat your vegetables.”   If you want to become fully awake in a hurry or get over a handover, try an onion.   – Pandemic Survivor

Human Health – Sulfur and the Vitamin D Connection

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Earlier in the year, I did several posts on sulfur.  Stephanie Seneff has proposed sulfur and vitamin D sulfate play a significant role in human health in her essay:  “Could Sulfur Deficiency be a Contributing Factor in Obesity, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?” None of the agencies through Health and Human Services has even established an incorrect minimum daily requirement for sulfur like they have for vitamin D3.

So what does sulfur do in the human body?

  • Both organic sulfur from amino acids and from sulfur compounds in the cruciferous (cabbage, broccoli, etc.) and allium (garlic, onions, etc.) vegetables and inorganic sulfur from sulfates in foods and our water supply are critical to human physiology.
  • Sulfate is needed for the formation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGS i.e. glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, etc.) or amino acids necessary for joints, skin, connective tissues, and joint lubrication through synovial fluid.
  • Sulfate is needed to start the cascade of digestive enzymes.
  • Sulfate is necessary to line the gut wall with mucin proteins.
  • Sulfate is needed for the formation of neurons where neurons are laid down on a platform of sulfated carbohydrates.
  • Sulfation is a major pathway in detoxifying from drugs, environmental toxins especially in the brain (aluminum), liver (i.e., acetaminophen), and removing waste from cells after the mitochondrial processes.
  • Sulfur is most abundant element (approximately one half percent by weight) in our body after calcium and phosphorus and is the fourth most abundant anion in our plasma.  It helps to maintain the balance of anions (bicarbonate, chloride, and phosphate) to effectively carry oxygen to the cells. Interestingly enough, sulfates are not normally measured in serum analysis.

After reading the above list it is easy to see the connection between sulfur deficiency and many chronic diseases as suggested by Seneff and others: heart disease, Alzheimer’s, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, fibromyalgia, arthritis, interstitial cystitis, multiple sclerosis, congestive heart failure, diabetes, cancer, and AIDS.

Interestingly, there is an excess amount of sulfur found in the serum of persons with ALS.  I suspect this is a breakdown of the mitochondrial enzyme (superoxide dismutase) that requires manganese to properly form the water soluble sulfur ester necessary for waste removal.  Could it be that people with ALS are just manganese deficient along with copper and zinc?  Their mitochondria all plugged up with waste?  Or perhaps the manganese transporter is not working properly because the person is vitamin D deficient or both?  It is never just one thing, but the combination of nutrients and systems effectiveness that prevents and cures disease.  Doctors, do you have patients with ALS, then, nutrition is the way to go in addition to drugs.  You certainly are not going to do any harm by given them enough vitamin D3, vitamin C, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc.

Sulfate and Sulfation  R.H. Waring, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham. B15 2TT U.K. Summary 

Sulfur in human nutrition and applications in medicine – Review: sulfur by Stephen W. Parcell

Are we getting enough sulfur in our diet?   Marcel E Nimni, Bo Han,and Fabiola Cordoba

Seneff suggested that the importance of sulfur in heart disease was through the effect of vitamin D sulfate.  I would like to suggest that it is even more important because of the action of vitamin D on the sodium sulfate cotransporter, NaSi-1, in both the lining of the gut, the skin, and in the kidneys.  This allows the balance of sulfate in the body for the many physiological roles that sulfate plays, in particular in the energy cycle of mitochondria.  Could enough sulfate stop angina?  Perhaps the sulfate is more important to relaxation of arterial walls than nitric oxide and more importantly to the action of the heart muscle and neural fibers?   “Critical role of vitamin D in sulfate homeostasis: regulation of the sodium-sulfate cotransporter by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 ” Bolt, et.al. Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, May 27, 2004. 

How important is sulfur in preventing heart disease?  Consider this graph from an earlier post on the importance of calcium and magnesium in balance.  The fact that Greece is an outlier in the balance of calcium and magnesium in the diet suggest that sulfur is more important than the balance of calcium and magnesium in heart disease.  Like Japan, Greece is located of a volcanic riff and along with Japan is the world largest exporter of sulfur.  In these two countries, the rate of death from heart disease is five times less than the US.

Have heart disease?  Consider lots of vitamin D, Epsom Salt baths several times per week (or mineral water made from magnesium, sodium, and calcium sulfate ), and at least three cups of cruciferous and alliums vegetables each day. – Pandemic Survivor   Happy Fourth of July!

Reversing Alzheimer’s Follow-Up

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My wife’s sister took her mother to lunch today.  Mother-in-law remembered she was going to lunch and was dressed and waiting.  My nephew went with them and his remark was how wonderful her face was starting to fill out.  That is an amazing recovery for someone with a prognosis of needing to be placed in a memory care unit.  The question has occurred to me; is my mother-in-law an anomaly?  Maybe she was not getting Alzheimer’s but had some other form of dementia.  We certainly pray a lot and I am sure that God is involved, but maybe this is more for you and the person you know with has Alzheimer’s.

Consider what Ronald Roth said in his article, Alzheirmer’s: Nutritional Causes, Treatments and Prevention;  “The positive response to sulfur-raising therapy I have observed in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease has been inversely proportional to the progression of the disease, with sulfur levels of every patient tested having been from significantly below-normal in early stages, to totally deficient – or no longer being measurable – at late stages of the disease.”  He also says that in other types of dementia, the sulfur level is not low.  The question for Ronald Roth is, how much more positive would the results have been if the patients had a vitamin D3 raising therapy as well.  In another post, I will discuss how vitamin D aids in control of the sodium sulfur co-transporters.  In other words does vitamin D3 regulate the body’s sulfur level.

So why are you waiting?  Sulfur as MSM, Vitamin D3 in enough quantity to get the serum level of 25(OH)D above 50 ng/ml, and phospholipids ( I suspect that phosphadityl choline is the best, but fish oil, krill oil, or other omega-3’s may be as effective.  However, a diet of several egg yolks per day would work too as egg yolks are rich in suffer and phospholipids).  These nutritional substances are very safe and should not have a negative effect so there is really no excuse but to try it.  Discuss it with the doctor and go for it.

Memory improved while living well in the sun, eating egg yolks, and drinking hard water where the sulfate has not been removed – Pandemic Survivor

Surviving Alzheimer’s by Vitamin D, Phospholipids, and Sulfur Supplementation

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My mother in law is one of the sweetest women that you can imagine.  At four feet eleven she is a powerhouse of joy.  About seven years ago, she had a minor stroke, that caused her a day or so of being ‘lost’.  She took off in her car up the interstate looking for a place to turn around until she ran out of gas.  A good-samaritan found her and put her in a motel room.  We got her situated in an elderly care facility some weeks later.  She was doing well enough that she did not need to be in assisted living.  The docs wanted to put her on an Alzheimer’s med, but my wife and her sister decided against it.

She did well until a year ago when she had a urinary tract infection and a bad reaction to the antibiotics used to treat it.  It is my belief that she was not getting good nutrition and this was part of her problem.  After this episode she was moved into assisted living.  Late last summer we were advised that she needed to be moved to the Alzheimer’s unit because her memory was failing.  That decision was delayed and we decided to start giving her sulfur supplements as MSM and a supplement that supports the phospholipids in the brain – phosphatidyl choline.  And of course we were giving her vitamin D3 and multiple vitamins.

At ninety-three years old, she seems to be stabilizing very well.  In any case, we have been able to keep her out of the Alzheimer’s unit. In fact she was doing so well this past fall, she borrowed her great-granddaughter’s Halloween costume, dressed as the Queen of England, and won best dressed at the party they had.  And of course her great-granddaughter won the next day in the same costume at her Halloween party.

We arrived at using the sulfur through Stephnie Seneff’s paper, Could Sulfur Deficiency be a Contributing Factor in Obesity, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s, and Chronic Fatigue.

In her paper she refered to a work by Ronald Roth, Alzheirmer’s: Nutritional Causes, Treatments and Prevention.  It is amazing to look at the chart and see how far below normal that sulfur is.  Sulfur is also a natural antagonist (removes if from the body) of copper and alumminum, two culprits identified as being elevated in Alzheimer’s.

I have since found a paper that says that vitamin D regulates one of the biological pathways or the sodium-sulfur cotransporter.  More on that later.

Allow God to smile on you through good nutrition.  – Pandemic Survivor

 

A Health Miracle in Sulfur

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A new theory as to why vitamin D production on the skin is more beneficial than supplemental vitamin D.

It seems that when we discuss the benefits of nutrients, it is all about the cations: calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium and the balance required.  Very seldom do we talk about the anions like carbonate, chloride, sulfate, and phosphate and the necessary negative charge balance.  It is believed in general that our food is rich enough in these mineral constituents that we get more than enough of these items.  Certainly we get enough phosphate, with the abundance in our food and soft drinks and chloride because it is used to treat our water supply and it is the negative ion in salt.

I ask you, do the things that we consider extremely beneficial to health have anything in common: garlic, onions, turmeric (curcumin), cumin, cabbage, hot spring baths, mud baths, soaks in Epson salts, and mineral water.  Typically they are all great sources for sulfur.  With garlic being especially high in sulfur, we find in garlic more than thirty compounds that contain sulfur.  During WWII, garlic was referred to as Russian penicillin.  The Russians did not have penicillin at the time and they used garlic to prevent infections in wounds.  Garlic when crushed allows two of the sulfur compounds to combine and form a new compound that is called allicin, a very useful antibiotic.

Dr. Stephannie Seneff, a senior scientist at MIT, has proposed several novel ideas about how important sulfur is to our health.  Interview with Dr. Mercola: one and one half  hours video with transcript available: “Could THIS be the hidden factor Behind Obesity, Heart Disease, and Chronic Fatigue” http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/17/stephanie-seneff-on-sulfur.aspx

Article from Weston Price: “Sulfur Deficiency – A Possible Contributing Factor in Obesity Heart Disease, and Chronic Fatigue”  http://www.westonaprice.org/vitamins-and-minerals/sulfur-deficiency  Dr. Seneff is to present at Weston Price in November.

Summary

  • Because of the multiple valence numbers of sulfur, -2 to +6, it is very versatile in supporting aerobic metabolism.
  • Sulfate and carbonate in the blood maintain the negative charge requirements to provide an effective colloid for delivering oxygen and nutrients.
  • Two mysterious molecules are discussed: cholesterol sulfate and vitamin D3 sulfate.  It is theorized that the benefit of production of vitamin D in the skin versus supplementation is in making vitamin D3 sulfate.  Muscle metabolism can become significantly jeopardized when cholesterol sulfate is low.
  • Sulfur is key in protecting proteins in neurons and muscle cells from oxidative damage.
  • Thin people with deficiency in cholesterol and sulfur are subject to a wide range of health problems.
  • Modern practice in health and our food and water supply has conspired to reduce both cholesterol and sulfate.
  • Throw away the sunscreen and eat more egg yellows.

My question to you is: Will the new markers for health be the ratio of cholesterol to cholesterol sulfate and 25(OH)D3 to 25(OH)D sulfate.  Given how long it takes for science to transfer into the art of the practice of medicine – in fifty years, maybe.   – Pandemic Survivor