In a little less than 3 months, I was able to:
- Decrease my homocysteine from 13.8umol/L to 8.6umol/L
- Increase my methionine by 3x and my cysteine by 7.5x
- Decrease my heavy metals by up to 75%
Plus, I was able to solve my muscle and tendon recovery problems from increased exercise – which is actually how I initially came across this game-changing supplement.
MSM.
Here’s how I found out that MSM is the right supplement for me.
And you can find out if it’s also right for you.
How Does MSM Help with Homocysteine?
When you start working out more, you start utilizing more methyl groups, which increases your homocysteine.
This becomes worse if your body isn’t a good methylator because methylation helps regulate the conversion of homocysteine into other beneficial substances, such as methionine and cysteine.
Too much homocysteine can lead to a lot of health issues.
And methionine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that helps produce the body’s strongest antioxidant, glutathione.
So, having too little methionine can lead to even more health issues.
When looking at my DNA, you can see that I’m an undermethylator that is highly predisposed to higher homocysteine and lower methionine.
MSM stands for Methylsulfonylmethane, and so it carries both a sulfur and a methyl group.
This methyl group helps decrease homocysteine, improve methylation, and indirectly increase methionine.
So how did it decrease my heavy metals?
How MSM Helps With Detoxing
This is where the sulfur comes into play.
Sulfur is a crucial component involved in various detoxification pathways, like glutathione which I mentioned above.
Glutathione is extremely important in removing toxins and heavy metals.
Which is why the sulfur you get from the MSM can help remove the load off of sulfur-containing amino acids like methionine and cysteine – another key component to glutathione production – so that you’re getting the maximum benefits without depleting your resources.
MSM helped me very significantly decrease arsenic, as well as other heavy metals like:
- Lead
- Mercury
- Antimony
- Tin
- Total Bilirubin
And finally, let’s talk about the reason that I was even introduced to MSM in the first place.
How MSM Helps Muscle & Tendon Recovery
Sulfur-containing amino acids like methionine and cysteine contribute to the formation of collagen, which is an extremely important structural protein found in your tendons and extracellular matrix of muscles.
Collagen is essential in maintaining the integrity of these tissues and supporting their repair.
After taking MSM and increasing my sulfur intake, here’s a before (bottom) and after (top) of my labs for methionine and cystine:
My recovery skyrocketed and I’ve been able to maintain my new exercise load with ease.
Is MSM Right For You?
There are only a couple of things that you can look at that can help you determine whether or not you should include MSM in your regimen.
First, check out your genetic predispositions.
Are you genetically more susceptible to higher homocysteine and low methionine like I am?
Is your body undermethylating?
Second, check your labs.
By understanding my genetics, I used SelfDecode to then take a look at the proper lab tests and see if my levels were below the optimal range.
All 3 of cystine, methionine, and homocysteine lab levels confirmed what my genetics told me, and MSM helped tackle all of these problems simultaneously, making it the perfect supplement for me.
If you don’t have methylation problems but you are lacking in sulfur, then NAC might be a better solution for you in regards to muscle and tendon recovery.
And I think that helps highlight the importance of personalization.
What works best for me may not be the best option for you.
Understanding your DNA and labs is the key to achieving the healthiest life that you envision.
