Why Use OptiMSM?

OptiMSM™ is the world’s purest MSM (Methyl Sulfonyl Methane). Every batch of OptiMSM is distilled for purity and undergoes the most rigorous analytical testing available, guaranteeing unsurpassed quality. OptiMSM is the only brand of MSM with published, peer-reviewed safety data.  OptiMSM is licensed under the worldwide R.J. Herschler patents and is 100% made in the U.S.A. by Bergstrom Nutrition (www.bergstromnutrition.com

Discover the OptiMSM difference. There are many different brands of MSM in the marketplace. When you see the distinctive OptiMSM logo on our MSM products, you know you're getting the original MSM from Bergstrom Nutrition, exclusively used by the medical doctor who first brought MSM to the world, Stanley Jacob, M.D. (see his personal endorsement in the right-hand column on this page). OptiMSM is held to the highest quality standards, tested by independent laboratories to guarantee the absence of harmful metal and biological contaminants, and is always guaranteed 99.9% pure methylsulfonylmethane.

MSM powder is offered in two forms: "coarse flakes" and MSM "fine crystals". Fine crystal MSM requires the addition of 0.1% silicon dioxide as additive to prevent it from clumping and becoming unmanageable (hard as a brick). Silicon dioxide is commonly used in food items and is completely non-toxic. We generally recommend using "coarse flakes" (available in powder and encapsulated), as this form contains absolutely nothing but pure MSM (no additives).  ONLY OptiMSM offers this form of MSM.  Counterfeit MSM (including Lignisul MSM) does not offer this advantage. Because the particle are a little larger than the fine crystal powder, it takes a little longer to dissolve in water or orange juice.  The advantage is, however, that you are taking pure MSM without any additives. MSM "coarse flakes" is Cardinal Nutrition's patented and superior form of MSM obtained by distillation instead of by crystallization.  This technology ensures the highest quality of MSM on the market to-day, entirely free of any contaminants. The fine crystal powder form of MSM is sometimes preferred by people that like to dissolve the powder in a juice or in water.  Since the crystals are extremely fine, they dissolve quickly. 


How  MSM is Made

MSM is made from DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide), and DMSO is made by processing the waste product of paper making ("pulp and paper industry")-- it is NEVER made by simply processing trees or any other form of plant life (no matter what you might read in some less informed Internet sources), for the sole purpose of extracting DMSO. It COULD be, just as sea water could be used for the sole purpose of extracting gold, but this is totally impractical.

DMSO is extracted from the waste product of paper making -- and it is the PAPER MAKING that allows the whole process to be practical. As paper is made, the paper is made of the fibers of wood. But, as trees grow, the fibers of wood are stuck together, in the living tree, by a substance called "lignin." Lignin is like a glue that holds the fibers together. The wood could not be made into paper if all the fibers are still stuck together -- so papermaking must include some process by which the lignin is removed, allowing the wood fibers to be managed into flat paper, etc.

Lignin is removed with something called "pulping chemicals." These chemicals are sodium sulfite (the majority), sodium sulfide and sodium carbonate). When these chemicals are soaked in a vat with wood chips, the lignin dissolves and the wood fibers can then be removed from the mass. Generally about 50% of the stuff in the vat would be the wood fibers, ready for making into paper, and 50% would be the residue, the waste product, of the original "pulping chemicals" and the lignin that has now been dissolved. That first liquid is called DMS (CH3 - S - CH3), but it quickly and easily further refined into DMSO.

DMSO is the main ingredient from which MSM is made by a controlled oxidation process using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and water. There are no other chemicals used, and the H2O2 is turned into water.

It is very important to realize that if you purchase OptiMSM, then the MSM you receive has been distilled. NO CHEMICALS ARE LEFT BEHIND. It is the purest possible form of the chemical MSM.