What kinds of sulfur compounds are most likely to cause unpleasant side effects?  For me, MSM, eggs and onions (and possibly garlic) are a problem, and all are high in organic sulfur.  But compliant nuts, meat, fish, and poultry aren't a problem.  I'm going to say that sulfur found in proteins/amino acids are safe.  I'm sure sulfites are bad (from the reaction to the bottled lemon juice).  But broccoli, also high in sulfur, doesn't seem to be a problem.

I can explain the eggs away because of the proteins and my leaky gut, but does that have any bearing on onions or MSM?

Looks like sulfur sensitivity, in some form, runs in the family.  Last week(?) my dad had to quit taking an antibiotic sulfa drug because he had a reaction that looked a lot like Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (skin sores all over).  FYI, sulfa drugs contain sulfonamides.  My dad also has some reactions to eggs similar to mine (fatigue, depression, irritability).  I don't know if onions or other allium family plants are bad for him.

I've hunted all over Google trying to figure this about.  Maybe I'm not asking the right questions.  Any suggestions?

I am not particularly sensitive to sulfur.

For me eggs and onions are fine.

Sulfites added to food are a problem, such as:

sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, potassium bisulfite and potassium metabisulfite

Sulfur dioxide is a problem for me.

I have not tested sulfonamides.



Sulfate compound in cosmetics can be a problem for me.

I am highly allergic to sulphur, & it so was/is our my daughter - she reacted so badly to a dose of a suphur based antibiotics!! We were bathing her in calomine lotion) as she was covered in hives & swelled up all over to almost unrecognisable proportions

I get hives that turn into almost boils, from onion, garlic, dried apricots, broccoli & if I have too many eggs...(all of which I love ) & can't stand the smell of lillies..

There's a facebook group on onion sensitivity that might be helpful TJ

Sulfur is processed in the body by enzymes - one being PST(phenol-sulfotransferase). This enzyme is also used to process phenols/salicylates.  So maybe it's the sulfur foods that are also high in phenols that give you a problem because your body is using PST to process the phenols first and not enough is left over for the sulfur. (Although you mentioned broccoli doesn't cause problems and I think that is a high phenol food- maybe just an exception.)

That was a problem for me in the past and magnesium and P-5-P (the active form of B6) helped a lot.  Those two nutrients are key in supporting enzyme systems.

A search about sulfur and phenols brought up the following site and gave me a good understanding how the process works.  It gives a lot of information about food sensitivities.

http://www.newtreatments.org/fromweb/sulfur.html

Sulfur foods like broccoli, cauliflower, onion, garlic, etc are usually not tolerated by a firstt trimester pregnant woman. After the first trimester (after all the vital organs are formed) those foods usually become tolerated again. Maybe a tiny developing fetus can not process the sulfur? Maybe it's related to adult sulfur intolerance.

I'm sure those preservative forms of sulfur are bad for me.  I've never taken sulfa drugs, so I don't know about that.

Quoted from Sharon

Sulfur foods like broccoli, cauliflower, onion, garlic, etc are usually not tolerated by a first trimester pregnant woman.

I'm definitely not in my first trimester!!

Seriously, the broccoli is confusing.  I don't care much for cauliflower, turnip, or Brussels sprouts, so maybe that's just a subtle body message that it's trouble too (or maybe it's because I'm a super-taster).

Re: sweet potatoes.  I'm feeling toward them like I felt toward onion a couple of months ago.  "I like the taste of this, and it's good for me, so why don't I want to eat it more often?"  I would buy a bag of onions and use one or two before they rotted.  I buy sweet potatoes and use one before the rest are sprouting.  Apparently sweet potatoes have substantial amounts of sulfur, but there's also some fructose that may be confusing the issue!

This site suggests that thiols are the culprit.  Sweet potatoes are listed as low in thiols here:
http://livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/food/high-sulfur-sulphur-food-list/
but high in sulfur here:
http://www.ehow.com/about_5481030_foods-high-sulfur.html
maybe because of the amino acids they contain.

karen, scanning through that page suggests that liver detox will help, something I need to do anyway!

Quoted from TJ

I'm definitely not in my first trimester!!

This site suggests that thiols are the culprit.  Sweet potatoes are listed as low in thiols here:
http://livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/food/high-sulfur-sulphur-food-list/
but high in sulfur here:
http://www.ehow.com/about_5481030_foods-high-sulfur.html
maybe because of the amino acids they contain.

Which trimester does that make you in then eh TJ??!!
Interesting info re thiols & sulphur
I would highly recommend the detox/liver work!!

Quoted from Possum

Which trimester does that make you in then eh TJ??!!

I think I'm in my 142nd trimester right now.

Quoted from Possum

I would highly recommend the detox/liver work!!

I'm looking for some milk thistle supplement that is both gluten and corn free.  If I get really motivated, I might even order a bottle of castor oil and do the Explorer detox.

In other news.  I realized that sweet potatoes might be bothersome to me for the same reasons that make them an avoid for As: polyamines/bacterial overgrowth.  That, going along with fructose malabsorption, and poor tolerance of yogurt or probiotics.  I don't know that thiol content is bad news for me, but it could be for some people.  But I can still eat broccoli with impudence!

Quoted from TJ

I'm looking for some milk thistle supplement that is both gluten and corn free.

I used Milk Thistle Extract from this site before changing over to Hepatiguard from DPN...
http://store.ourhealthcoop.com/Milk_Thistle_p/mt.htm

Quoted from TJ

I think I'm in my 142nd trimester right now.

  

Quoted from TJ

But I can still eat broccoli with impudence!

Ummm... that's not on my list

I've been revisiting this organic sulfur problem.  The SWAMI heading on the "Live Foods" section for the Explorer diet speaks of "organosulfur compounds" as "detoxifying agents".  Do you think that when I eat onions and sweet potatoes that I'm just getting a detox reaction?

If so, I just need to suck it up and eat them anyway!

I dunno.. Depends if you feel it is an allergic reaction The explorer diet also limits apricots, eggs & leeks etc doesn't it?

It doesn't seem like an allergy at all.  It's a vague sort of icky, generally unwell feeling.  How's that for specifics?

.. Mmm well in that case, maybe it is a detox?! Mind you that could be a reaction to a number of factors... Thing is if it eventually passes, then you'll possibly have your answer

Quoted from TJ

It's a vague sort of icky, generally unwell feeling.  How's that for specifics?

I resemble that remark most days...

I'm just going to run with the "detox" theory, and start eating this stuff again anyway.  Maybe this is just what my liver needs!

Quoted from ABJoe

I resemble that remark most days...

Comes and goes for me.  Definitely coming instead of going today.

Quoted from TJ

But I can still eat broccoli with impudence!

Impudence is an avoid on my Swami!  

Hmm, I think I was right on about the onions and other aliums.  However, I think I have a polyamine problem, which sweet potatoes would not help.  At any rate, they are now "neutral" instead of "superfood"!

I'm going to flip-flop on onions again.  I've been feeling quite miserable for the past ~10 days, and was contributing it to Lamictal withdrawal and detox.  But this was just too much to lay all of it at detox's door.  I ate no onions yesterday, and today I have felt much better.  This after eating onions almost daily since my last post.

It may turn out that it really is a detox reaction that's just too intense to bear, but it is suspicious that I get such a similar reaction from onions as I do from eggs and MSM supplementation.  What do they have in common?  Is it just organic sulfur, or is it some specific form of sulfur, or are they completely unrelated???

Quoted from TJ

Re: sweet potatoes.  I'm feeling toward them like I felt toward onion a couple of months ago.  "I like the taste of this, and it's good for me, so why don't I want to eat it more often?"  I would buy a bag of onions and use one or two before they rotted.  I buy sweet potatoes and use one before the rest are sprouting.

TJ,  I am finding that my body wants certain foods a lot for a while, like sweet potatoes, and then doesn't want them for a while.  Watermelon is the same way, as are several other foods.  Since I started trying to eat local foods and going to farmers markets, learning what foods are in season around here, and when (I grew up in CA where food is always in season), I find that whatever is in season my body is agreeable to eat, within my BT of course.  Sweet potatoes are not really in season in NC right now.  And I really don't want them right now.  I also do not want to bake them with this horrible heat.  So it all works out.  Last year my body decided it wanted to eat them again about the time they came back in season.  I am going to assume that I could do without blueberries again until they come back in season here.  Not sure that I will do without those.  I will likely buy frozen. All that to say, maybe you could lay off of sweet potatoes and eat something else until closer to fall and then see if you have an appetite for lots and lots of them for a few months.  

Could be.  I try to leave to door open on such things, and try them again later to see if they are still a problem.  Recently watermelon is ok again, but a few weeks ago it was making me gassy/cramped.  I think I had too much gut flora.

Quoted from karen

Sulfur is processed in the body by enzymes - one being PST(phenol-sulfotransferase). This enzyme is also used to process phenols/salicylates.  So maybe it's the sulfur foods that are also high in phenols that give you a problem because your body is using PST to process the phenols first and not enough is left over for the sulfur. (Although you mentioned broccoli doesn't cause problems and I think that is a high phenol food- maybe just an exception.)

That was a problem for me in the past and magnesium and P-5-P (the active form of B6) helped a lot.  Those two nutrients are key in supporting enzyme systems.

A search about sulfur and phenols brought up the following site and gave me a good understanding how the process works.  It gives a lot of information about food sensitivities.

http://www.newtreatments.org/fromweb/sulfur.html

Was just rereading this thread & somehow had missed your fantastic link!! Brilliant reading & filed for future reference It also gives a greater understanding of the whys & hows behind the avoids for Explorers... Thanks!!

I'm definitely not in my first trimester!!

Drive, I think you have made some huge strides since the last time I saw one of your posts! I didn't know you had such a wonderful sense of humor! And even though you are still having problems you sound so much more positive! Good for you!

Further to my comments above... it also really explains why tea is an avoid for O's   I had been having the odd cup of English Breakfast tea lately & never thought to check - tea plants are often treated with a sulphur based nutrient Apparently "tea has a particular need for sulfur, over and above its function as a major nutrient for rapid healthy growth and development...
Sulfur requirement for tea is very high at 16 to 26 kg/hectare/year. But this should come as no surprise since tea grows naturally on soils of volcanic origin, created by the very same geological processes that create elemental sulfur in large amounts..."
http://www.teaandcoffee.net/0305/feature.htm