Methylsulfonylmethane a big name befitting a nutritional big hitter. MSM has a long history of efficacy with conditions related to joint health particularly osteoarthritis. MSM's benefits for joint health are largely due to the presence of sulfur and the key role sulfur plays in the disulfide bonds that contribute to the physical structure of connective tissue. But sulfur does much more than that. It is a key player in detoxification and just like we wouldn't start spring cleaning in our homes without having some good (and non-toxic) cleaners on hand likewise it is helpful to maintain appropriate sulfur levels in the body to ensure optimal detoxification.

Sulfur might have a bad reputation for being behind the aromas of overcooked cabbage and rotten eggs but what it does inside the body more than makes up for occasionally offending our sense of smell. As a ready source of sulfur MSM supplementation has been shown to protect the liver from oxidative damage and chemically induced toxicity in human and animal studies. In healthy athletically untrained young men ten days of MSM supplementation at 50mg/kg body weight reduced markers of oxidative damage and enhanced glutathione levels following exhaustive exercise. It's important to note that ten days of supplementation may have primed the body with sulfur and sulfur-containing antioxidants and enzymes because another study showed that an acute single dose of MSM slightly reduced markers of oxidative stress but wasn't enough to increase levels of glutathione arguably one of the primary reasons for supplementing with MSM in the first place.

In a rat study MSM protected against acetaminophen-induced liver injury. Pretreatment with MSM for one week (100mg/kg) resulted in decreased levels of the liver damage markers AST & ALT and malondialdehyde -an indicator of lipid peroxidation. Advanced administration of MSM also led to less dramatic reductions in glutathione status and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity than in untreated rats. Again we have a study where a loading period of at least a few days seems helpful to establish a protective sulfur baseline. Another study showed that pretreatment with MSM protected against liver injury in rats dosed with carbon tetrachloride. It inhibited increases in ALT and AST increased SOD and catalase activity and also decreased levels of inflammatory markers IL-6 and TNF-I±.

The ability of MSM to mitigate toxin-induced liver damage and support detoxification is due in large part to the sulfur it provides with cysteine availability being the main rate-limiting step in glutathione synthesis not to mention Phase II sulfation activity and the use of the sulfur-containing amino acid taurine.

MSM has been shown to be safe at relatively high doses. Although no studies have been conducted to assess the safety of high doses over the very long term doses as high as 6 grams/day for 12 weeks for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis resulted in no adverse effects. 

When recommending MSM supplementation to aid detoxification it is wise to advise patients to go slowly. Introducing too much of this effective compound all at once can result in familiar detox reaction's such as headaches acne rashes and other symptoms associated with overly rapid clearance of toxins. MSM can be titrated up gradually to prevent these unpleasant effects.