Health aspects - Sulphur

Importance of sulphur to man

• As a constituent of proteins, essential amino acids, important vitamins and hormones, sulphur is vital for both humans and animal.
• Sulphur makes up 0.25% of our body weight, meaning that an average adult human body contains around 170 g S, of which most occurs in the amino acids cysteine, cystine and methionine.
• Amongst other things, sulphur is involved in the formation of bile acids, which are essential for fat digestion and absorption. It also helps to keep skin, hair and nails healthy and plays an important part in tissue breathing.
• No specific sulphur deficiency diseases are known, however deficiency of S is linked to the skin disorder eczema and also the imperfect development of hair and nails.
• No concrete dietary allowances are given, as generally enough sulphur is taken up in a normal diet. The main sulphur containing foods are vegetables (radishes, carrots, cabbage) milk products (cheese), seafood and meat protein.

Importance of sulphur to animals

• Mammals, apart from ruminants, take up sulphur exclusively in organic form, as proteins, amino acids or in oils and fats, via feed. Sulphur is mainly deposited in tissues such as muscles (about 3% of the dry weight) or in wool (13% of which consist of cysteine).
• Ruminants use inorganic sulphur to produce amino acids containing S, which is possible because of the specific micro-flora in their gut.
• An under-supply of S in the diet can cause deficiency leading to disorders in the animals’ metabolism and stunted growth.
• By increasing the legume proportion in the forage or by supplementing the feed with protein-rich meals, S deficiency can be prevented.