Ask any seasoned bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast about the virtues of a high protein diet, and there’s a good chance you’ll hear about the importance of maintaining a positive nitrogen balance. As protein is the only macronutrient source of nitrogen, achieving a positive nitrogen balance (when nitrogen intake exceeds its excretion) is a sign that sufficient protein is being consumed to support protein synthesis and muscle building.
But nitrogen isn’t the only element in quality protein which can support the body’s repair processes. Researchers are now beginning to see that, because it plays such an integral role in so many metabolic functions, the mineral, sulfur may be equally as important as nitrogen for building a strong, healthy, body.
But most of us rarely hear about how essential dietary sulfur is to our health - or how easily we can be become relatively sulfur-deficient under periods of intense training, dieting, or stress.
Sulfur is an important part of our physical structure, acting as an integral component of our joints and connective tissue. Sulfur is also an important substance used by the liver for detoxifying various chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as a rate-limiting component in the manufacture of the powerful cellular antioxidant, glutathione.
And with as many roles as sulfur plays, it’s no wonder that it can sometimes be difficult to meet our bodies’ hefty sulfur requirements.
What Is Quality Protein?
In the world of protein supplements, we often see all sorts of proteins being touted as “quality protein,” but have you ever wondered exactly how the scientific community measures protein quality?
Several different scientific methods exist for evaluating a protein’s quality, each method with its own relative advantages and disadvantages - but across all methods, one of the greatest indicators of a protein’s overall quality is the level of sulfur-containing amino acids (methionine and cysteine) it contains. And it just so happens that whey protein is by far the richest source of these sulfur-containing amino acids. Whey Isolate will contain 50% more sulfur-containing amino acids than casein, and twice the sulfur-containing amino acids of soy protein.
What Does Sulfur Do?
Sulfur is a necessary structural component of collagen which comprises cartilage and other types of connective tissue. Sulfur-containing connective tissue can be found not only in our joints, ligaments, and tendons; but throughout our body, supporting and protecting our muscles, bones, and internal organs as well.
Bodybuilders know that weight training stimulates protein synthesis and tissue building in muscle cells, but not many seem to realize that the growth of the connective tissue surrounding the muscles is also stimulated by hitting those heavy weights:
Quote from the above study:
Thus, there is a rapid increase in collagen synthesis after strenuous exercise in human tendon and muscle.
But it makes sense when you think about it – our bodies aren’t going to build larger muscles without also building the connective tissue to support them. One wonders, could a lack of nutrients needed to support the growth of connective tissue be one reason why some people adapt to weight training by becoming stronger, but without actually building larger muscles? It's certainly possible. For years, some exercise trainers have recommended extreme stretching of the muscular fascia (the connective tissue which supports muscle) in order to "make way for" muscle growth. The fact is that extreme stretching does seem to lead to the growth of larger muscles, and if muscle growth is indeed limited by the growth of the connective tissue, this makes our sulfur status all the more important.
Sulfur and the Liver
Sulfur is also intimately involved in many of the body’s detoxification processes. Sulfation, the binding of a compound to sulfur, is one process the liver uses to detoxify certain potentially harmful substances. The detoxification of many pharmaceutical drugs, including the pain-reliever, acetaminophen, places enormous demands on the bodies’ sulfur status. In fact, sulfur is so important for several of the liver’s detoxification pathways, that certain sulfur-containing amino acids are used therapeutically in cases of acetaminophen overdose. But even if our daily doses aren’t excessive, any long-term usage of acetaminophen can be problematic. The depletion of sulfur is just one mechanism by which the chronic use of pain medications may actually make a person’s health worse in the long-run.
Sulfur and Glutathione
And, as we’ve written about many times in the Integrated Supplement Blog, the cellular antioxidant glutathione requires the sulfur-containing amino acid cysteine for its production. And as we’ve written about as well, CFM® Whey Isolate will not only contain abundant cysteine, but, because CFM® contains the highest level of unaltered, undenatured, proteins, it will even contain a fragile peptide known as glutamylcysteine, the direct precursor to glutathione.
There’s Only So Much Sulfur To Go Around
Because sulfur is such an important component of protective detoxifying molecules and the connective tissue, researchers have hypothesized that under times of stress and toxic burden our body may “rob” sulfur from connective tissue to supply the more pressing needs of liver function. This could be an important factor in the development of arthritis.
Arthritic cartilage, for example, has been shown to contain only one-third the sulfur of normal cartilage:
Quote from the above study:
Sulfur concentration in arthritic cartilage is reduced to about one-third with respect to that in normal tissue.
Other researchers have hypothesized that the competition between the immune system and the muscle cells for the sulfur-containing raw materials of glutathione synthesis may be involved in the development of chronic fatigue syndrome, and the closely-related disorder fibromyalgia, which is characterized by muscle pain (myalgia):
Quote from the above study:
It is conceivable that the priority of the immune system for the survival of the host has drawn to this vital area the ever-diminishing GSH precursors, thus depriving the skeletal muscle of adequate GSH precursors to sustain a normal aerobic metabolism resulting in fatigue and eventually myalgia.
So, it’s easy to see that maintaining strong immune function; proper cellular energy; healthy detoxifying ability; and strong, resilient tissues certainly requires an abundance of dietary sulfur. And current research is beginning to show that even a diet which contains sufficient protein, may still be lacking in dietary sulfur:
Study Link – Are we getting enough sulfur in our diet?
Its high sulfur content and direct glutathione precursors are more reasons why CFM® Whey Protein Isolate is the ideal protein supplement for tissue repair and recovery.
In addition to a diet containing other high quality protein sources like eggs, and casein (unlike whey isolate, egg and casein protein are easy to come by, and are much higher quality when they come from real food rather than supplements), CFM® Whey Isolate may be just the thing we need to optimize not only our nitrogen balance, but our sulfur balance as well.
Related Articles:
Is Exercise More Harmful Than You Think? How To Protect Yourself With Whey Protein Isolate.
If Your Protein Supplement Doesn’t Boost Glutathione, You’re Just Wasting Your Money
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