What does it do?
Despite being one of the most plentiful minerals in the body (after calcium, phosphorus and potassium), sulphur doesn’t really get much of a look in when the dietary minerals are discussed.
Yet it plays an important role in the body’s production of collagen which is needed for healthy skin and bones, as well metabolism and blood clotting.
What’s the story?
Sulphur has actually been known about and used for millennia. Mentioned in Homer’s 'The Odyssey' as a fumigant, it gets quite a bit of an outing in the Bible as ‘brimstone’, and is very probably the inspiration behind wildfire in Game of Thrones; which in turn appears based on the Byzantine empire’s infamous ‘Greek fire’ which was used to devastating military effect.
It’s probably best known for the unfortunate smell that hot springs and the bacteria in your gut produce via sulphurous gases.
How much do I need?
There’s no RNI for sulphur, or even an official safe upper intake, as it’s pretty ubiquitous in most foods and it doesn’t appear that having too much sulphur causes negative symptoms. That said, the next best thing is to make sure you’re getting enough sulphur by eating good sources of protein every day. The RDA for methionine with cysteine (both amino acids – the building blocks of protein – that contain sulphur) for adults has been set at 14 mg/Kg of body weight per day.
So assuming you weigh 70 kg you need roughly 1.1 g of methionine a day.
What are good sources?
Sulphur is found in lots of different foods, particularly protein foods such as legumes (with lentils, red kidney beans and cannellini beans all particularly good sources), meat, eggs and dairy.
Garlic, onion, peas, and cruciferous veggies such as cauliflower and broccoli are also good sources of sulphur.
Any ideas for using those ingredients?
Roast harissa cauliflower/red kidney bean koftas/chickpea and aubergine curry/roast butternut squash with shallots and chorizo/red lentil curry/seared coriander steak/Garlic and sundried tomato dip/scallops with pea and mint puree/insalata tricolore
References
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1998) Greek fire, weaponry. Available here [accessed 6th July 2017].
Nimni, M.E., Han, B. (2007) Are we getting enough sulfur in our diet? Nutr Metab (Lond). 4 (24). Available here.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (2017). Periodic Table, Sulfur. Available here [accessed 6th July 2017].