Low-sulfur diet
A low-sulfur diet is a diet with reduced sulfur content. Important dietary sources of sulfur and sulfur containing compounds may be classified as essential mineral, essential amino acid and semi-essential amino acid.
Sulfur is an essential dietary mineral primarily because amino acids contain it. Sulphur is thus considered fundamentally important to human health, and conditions such as nitrogen imbalance and protein-energy malnutrition may result from deficiency. Methionine cannot be synthesized by humans, and cysteine synthesis requires a steady supply of sulfur.
, an essential sulfur containing amino acid
The recommended daily allowance of methionine for adults is set at 13–14 mg kg-1 day-1, but some researchers have argued that this figure is too low, and should more appropriately be 25 mg kg-1 day-1.
Despite the importance of sulfur, restrictions of dietary sulfur are sometimes recommended for certain diseases and for other reasons.
Cystathionine beta-synthase deficiency
is a serious disorder of transsulfuration which is managed with methionine restricted dieting.Ulcerative colitis
Reduced dietary sulfur is investigated in ulcerative colitis research, but this is controversial.| Food | g/100g |
| Egg, white, dried, powder, glucose reduced | 3.204 |
| Sesame seeds flour | 1.656 |
| Egg, whole, dried | 1.477 |
| Cheese, Parmesan, shredded | 1.114 |
| Brazil nuts | 1.008 |
| Soy protein concentrate | 0.814 |
| Chicken, broilers or fryers, roasted | 0.801 |
| Fish, tuna, light, canned in water, drained solids | 0.755 |
| Beef, cured, dried | 0.749 |
| Bacon | 0.593 |
| Beef, ground, 95% lean meat / 5% fat, raw | 0.565 |
| Pork, ground, 96% lean / 4% fat, raw | 0.564 |
| Wheat germ | 0.456 |
| Oat | 0.312 |
| Peanuts | 0.309 |
| Chickpea | 0.253 |
| Corn, yellow | 0.197 |
| Almonds | 0.151 |
| Beans, pinto, cooked | 0.117 |
| Lentils, cooked | 0.077 |
| Rice, brown, medium-grain, cooked | 0.052 |
Agriculture
In the farming industry, environmental concerns over air pollution lead to research aimed at reducing the odor of manure. A body of evidence emerged that increased sulfur containing amino acid content of feed increased the offensive odor of feces and flatus produced by livestock.This is thought to be due to increased sulfur containing substrate available to gut microbiota enabling increased volatile sulfur compound release during gut fermentation.
This theory is supported by the observation that feces from carnivores is more malodorous than feces from herbivore species, and this appears to apply to human diets as well.