MSM
Classified as a drug, not a food. Short-term pain relief is documented, but every cancer patient encountered who relied on it outside the Primal Diet died. Long-term risks include thymus and thyroid damage and severe sulfur-driven tissue destruction.
MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) is a sulfur-containing compound that became popular in alternative health circles as a supplement for joint pain, inflammation, and connective tissue conditions. Aajonus Vonderplanitz addressed it directly in response to a question from a practitioner whose client, a woman with fibromyalgia and fatigue, had been taking MSM and reported that her pain had disappeared while her fatigue remained. The client was on her own version of the raw diet, avoided carbohydrates, and had been unable to tolerate the lubrication formula without becoming ill for hours. She was unwilling to consume enough fat to support proper detoxification and had stopped taking the lube formula entirely despite advice to sip it gradually.
Aajonus's position on MSM was clear and negative. He did not consider it a naturally occurring supplement and stated that it "probably causes many imbalances that would not show for years." He characterized it as a drug, not a food, and expressed concern about its long-term effects rather than dismissing short-term reports of benefit. He acknowledged that some people reported pain relief from taking it, and he noted from direct workshop observation that it seemed to work for some people but did the opposite for others. He was not persuaded by short-term testimonials and specifically noted that the claims he had heard came from people who had been taking it for a short time, which was not sufficient to evaluate its safety or consequences.
Cancer and MSM
The most serious and direct statement Aajonus made about MSM concerned its relationship to cancer outcomes. He stated plainly: "Every person who had cancer that I met, who was not on the diet and who took MSM, died." This was not framed as a statistical observation with caveats but as a categorical finding from his own clinical experience. The qualification "not on the diet" is present in the original, which means these were individuals relying on MSM outside the context of the Primal Diet framework, but Aajonus did not offer this as an exoneration of MSM for people on the diet. His overall position remained that it was a drug with serious long-term risks.
Thymus and Thyroid Affinity
Aajonus identified a specific organ system he believed MSM targeted harmfully. He stated that MSM, in combination with other factors, "has an affinity for the thymus and thyroid and may cause long-term damage." He did not specify the precise mechanism by which this affinity operates or whether it was the sulfur component, the processing involved in producing the supplement, or something else about its chemical nature. The damage to the thymus and thyroid was framed as a long-term risk rather than an immediate effect, consistent with his broader position that the imbalances caused by MSM would not manifest for years.
Sulfur Toxicity and Tissue Damage
In a workshop setting, Aajonus addressed a case involving what he described as severe tissue damage with visible burned holes penetrating to the muscle, blood clots, and significant pain. He identified sulfur as the agent responsible, and when asked whether MSM could cause similar damage, he confirmed it: "That's bad. That would add to it. That could cause that too." The case involved a woman who had been experiencing the sulfur exuding from her skin in a manner severe enough to create lesions, and Aajonus was treating her with topical applications of clay with coconut cream and lime juice to draw the poisons out without drying the tissue. His response to the MSM question in that context was not qualified but direct, linking the organic sulfur in MSM to the same category of damage he was showing visually to workshop attendees.
Iris Reading and Body MSM
In a mini-consult context, Aajonus observed a patient who was taking MSM along with chondroitin and glucosamine, one capsule of each per day, and commented on what he saw in the iris. He described the appearance as looking "like a chemical compound, like you're taking medication, like insulin or something," and attributed the toxic water stored in the patient's tissues and joints to the compounds being taken. He noted that what the patient had in the joints was "toxic waters just stored in your tissues, in your joints" and that the supplements being taken could not be utilized by the body. His recommendation was lots of meat and lots of fat to address the underlying condition rather than continuing supplementation.
Short-Term Benefit Versus Long-Term Risk
Aajonus explicitly distinguished between the short-term symptomatic relief some people experienced with MSM and the long-term consequences he expected. He said he had "heard a lot of claims about it, but from people who had been taking it for a short time." This distinction was central to his framework: a substance can suppress or mask symptoms, or produce temporary improvements through mechanisms that simultaneously create deeper damage, and the true cost only becomes visible over years. He stated his intention to "re-investigate the drug in about 20 years and look at people who had taken it for many years," indicating he was willing to update his position based on long-term evidence but that the available evidence at the time of his writing was insufficient to support its use and the preliminary findings from cancer patients were seriously alarming.
The Fibromyalgia Client and Context
The specific case that prompted Aajonus's written response involved a woman with fibromyalgia who had been in pain for years and also experienced chronic fatigue. After beginning MSM, her pain resolved but her fatigue remained. She was maintaining her own version of the raw diet, was resistant to weight gain, could not tolerate the lubrication formula without hours of illness, and had discontinued it. Aajonus did not directly address her individual case in terms of whether the pain relief was meaningful or dangerous for her specifically. His response moved immediately to his broader findings about MSM and cancer, his concerns about thymus and thyroid damage, and his characterization of MSM as not naturally occurring. The context of the fibromyalgia client served as the occasion for his remarks but did not alter his overall position on the compound.
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