DMSO, Dimethyl Sulfoxide - BioFriend or BioHazard?

Is it really Nature's 'Natural Healer'?

It smells a little bit like garlic and is a solvent made from wood pulp waste. Back in the 19th Century DMSO was a byproduct of the paper making industry. By the 1970s it had been approved by the FDA for use in medicine, chiefly in cystitis (water infections) and to preserve organs for transplant (I sometimes have to wonder how these applications are discovered).

Photo by Gabriel Kraus on Unsplash

In Europe DMSO is used in a variety of medical applications.

It’s a pretty basic kind of molecule. You might remember the methyl groups we talked about here in this article about Folic Acid, where I explained what methylation is and why you need to take care of it.

DMSO is simply two methyl groups and an oxygen group and it looks like this.

Dr Stanley Jacob was considered the Father of DMSO. He pioneered for its acceptance into the medical sphere, particularly in the US where it was not approved for use in the way that other countries had in Europe.

Known for its rapid absorption into the skin and its low toxicity in research, DMSO acts as a kind of carrier agent. It can pave the way for rapidly increased absorption of other substances (good or bad) through the skin or into body tissues. It is often used in complementary medicine in this way, as an escort for other agents that may otherwise not be as bioavailable.

Iatrogenic Death

It’s worth talking a little about toxicity. While DMSO is not approved as a drug for pain relief, it does appear to have analgesic properties. Much noise may be made about the safety which is true (see the second half of this post) and we definitely do need more research on the subject. It’s tricky to do a double blind RCT when the product itself creates (MSM) a compound that is excreted in the breath and stinks of garlic!

Photo by 王 术山 on Unsplash

Let’s view this a little more globally for a moment, iatrogenic death means death by medication - FDA approved medication, I might add. My point is that just because it’s FDA approved, doesn’t make it a safe drug! In the US alone, iatrogenic death was the THIRD leading cause of death after Cancer and Heart Disease.

You might want to read that again….

To give you an example of how that might happen. Take NSAIDs which are non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, in the US these can be Aspirin, Advil, Motrin and Aleve. Inappropriate prescription of these drugs are responsible for 76,000 hospitalizations and 7,600 deaths in the US each year.

Always check with your Medical Doctor before you take any supplement or substance, no matter what you read on the internet.

How is DMSO a friend to us?

Cancer

DMSO has been shown in research to upregulate NK - Natural Killer cells (does what it says on the tin) and CTL (Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes) cells, which are some of our most potent natural allies in the war against cancer.

We want to both upregulate production (make more of) these bad boys and also to make them stronger! DMSO seems to be able to do that for us!

Read on to learn more about the benefits of DMSO and the risks you need to be aware of before you consider this as part of your supplement protocol.