SULFUR IN THE HUMAN BODY

This is another rabbit hole I've fallen into these past few months, I hope I can shed some light on this wonderful mineral, and show that it's actually one of the body's most fascinating nutrients

THREAD //

Sulfur is a non-metallic mineral that borders selenium, phosphorus, and oxygen on the periodic table

It is actually the eighth most abundant mineral in the body, and while it isn't discussed as often as it deserves, it has many essential functions

First I want to point out the primary forms sulfur appears in in the body, the first is what's called a sulfhydrl (aka thiol) group, composed of one hydrogen bonded with one sulfur

One or more of these work as attachment for larger compounds

The second is an ion called sulfate, which is composed of one sulfur and four oxygens, both if these groups have a negative charge

Sulfur is most often in one of these two forms, or acting as a component of a larger molecule like an amino acid

Now I want to go over what got me interested in sulfur in the first place, Stephanie Seneff's work on cholesterol sulfate

Essentially she suggests that the formation of cholesterol sulfate is necessary for proper blood flow to occur

When it is exposed to sunlight, cholesterol binds readily to sulfate

Cholesterol sulfate is mostly used to transport sulfate ions along the exterior of red blood cells, since sulfates are negative this surrounds blood cells with negative charge

The lining of all blood vessels is covered with long polysaccharide chains called GAGs, which are packed with even more sulfate groups

So both the walls of blood vessels and blood cells themselves are negatively charged, the like charges repel each other preventing clotting

This effect is potentiated further by the fact that GAGs are hydrophilic, so they cause the water they touch to structure and pool even more negative charge

This helps keep protons flowing as well, detoxing excess positive charge, as cells need a negative environment to function

The combined movement of these charged particles generates a magnetic field, which may act as a propulsion system, while actually widening blood vessels by triggering nitric oxide release

This is one of Seneff's diagrams if you're having trouble visualizing all this

Beyond that, sulfate-filled GAGs have some other functions as well, namely that they are some of the biggest components of keratin (necessary for skin health), collagen, and connective tissue

Many of the health benefits of bone broth are a result of its rich GAG content

Sulfur has the interesting property of reflecting the specific wavelengths of light that damage mitochondrial function

The high sulfur content of keratin in the skin might actually be a natural adaptation to protect cells from light, similar to the function of melanin

Sulfate is also a primary cofactor for a detox process called conjugation

Essentially, one of the final steps in the liver's detox process is binding the toxin it wants to remove to another molecule, making it less toxic and more soluble

The conjugation process utilizes everything from antioxidants to amino acids, but one of the most frequently used binder is actually sulfate

It is especially important in driving detox of oxalate (a common dietary plant toxin), as well as pesticides and xenoestrogens

Now I want to take a slight detour into the body's antioxidant system

Arguably the most important compound in this system is glutathione, if you observe it's structure you'll notice it has a sulfhydryl group, this is actually what it uses to bind to toxins and heavy metals!

Glutathione is the body's most flexible antioxidant, it switches back and forth between two forms allowing it to detoxify threats near instantly

The nutrient cofactors necessary for this process are selenium, riboflavin, and thiamine

Glutathione works quickly, but the real heavy lifting is done by much larger protein, metallothionein

If you observe the chemical structure of metallothionein, it actually contains more than two dozen sulfhydryl groups, this gives it massive detoxification power!

Metallothionein cannot function without zinc, which acts as a placeholder that supports its structure, when it encounters heavy metals or various other toxins the zinc atoms are swapped out

It is the first line of defense, pooling along barriers like the gut lining or BBB

Both these and other antioxidant proteins are synthesized from the two sulfur containing amino acids, cysteine and methionine (with others like glycine added too)

NAC is a bioavailable form of cysteine that increases both, and methionine is found mostly in animal products

The last thing I want to discuss is still being characterized fully, but I think it will become a core part of how we understand disease in the future

That is, iron-sulfur clusters in the mitochondria

Fe-S clusters are actually a core part of mitochondrial function only recently discovered in mammals, they serve as cofactors for the production of energy

Free iron has been found to be extremely damaging to mitochondria, so I think they may also be a way to get rid of free iron

The biggest block on Fe-S cluster formation is excess of oxidative waste, essentially lack of negative charge in the cell

This increase in free iron can result in everything from cell death to sunburns, antioxidants like vitamin C or CoQ10 work as sunscreen for this reason

Once again melatonin is hugely important here as the mitochondria's master antioxidant, sunlight increases the negative charge in the cell, preventing excess levels of free iron or sulfur

Both are toxic on their own, but bound together they're necessary

The best sources of dietary sulfur are:

- Meat
- Eggs
- Seafood
- Garlic (!!!)
- Onions
- Broccoli (or other cruciferous vegetables)

One of the best ways to supplement sulfur is by eating at least 1 clove of garlic per day, though a diet high in animal products works well too

Sulfur can also be added to the body in the form of organic sulfur supplements, usually either in the form MSM or DMSO

They work well as sulfur donors, and while I haven't used them myself, I've heard positive results from others

NOTE: there are actually two issues that can cause negative effects from sulfur, the first is molybdenum deficiency

Molybdenum is a trace mineral with few minor functions in the body, the most important of these is conversion of sulfite (toxic) into sulfate (essential)

Molybdenum deficiency is very uncommon, but if you notice abnormal reaction to sulfur you can try supplementing

Be aware molybdenum is toxic in excess, the upper limit is 2mgs per day so you want to supplement far less than that to be safe

The far more common issue with sulfur is having of poor sulfur metabolism genes, namely CBS and SOUX

CBS is actually one of two primary genes associated with autism, if you know you have either gene issue this website is a good resource to manage them

http://www.heartfixer.com/AMRI-Nutrigenomics.htm#CBS

The functions of sulfur in the body are practically endless, but that's all I can cover today, I plan to do a separate thread covering the detox section in greater depth, conjugation and metallothionein especially

I hope I've managed to convince you that sulfur is actually one of the most essential minerals in the body

As always thanks for reading, and if you have any further questions feel free to reply to this or message me