The Different Ways Quercetin Promotes Wellness

When it comes to optimizing nutrient intake, many people think about vitamins and minerals. However, there are many other compounds that can help improve your health, including quercetin.

I believe that quercetin deserves more attention as a growing body of research shows that it can improve your health in a number of ways, such as fighting cancer and viruses, as well as repairing damage caused by oxidative stress.

Quercetin increases your antioxidant profile

As USA Today reports, “The primary benefit of quercetin is that it is a powerful antioxidant that protects the body from damaging free radicals.”¹ In fact, the study in 2023² They pointed out that quercetin is a very powerful antioxidant flavonoid, which helps protect your body from various diseases.

In one meta-analysis,³ For example, quercetin can help in the management of multiple sclerosis (MS) by fighting oxidative stress. According to the researchers, oxidative stress causes the death of neurons, and also affects mitochondrial function.

Oxidative stress affects the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, thereby increasing the influx of leukocytes into the central nervous system. Finally, this process damages the myelin.⁴ A covering around nerves that help transmit electrical impulses.⁵ This process worsens the progression of MS over time.

Following this framework, the researchers wanted to know how effective quercetin was in helping to control MS. According to their joint research, here’s how quercetin protects the central nervous system (CNS):

“Quercetin can reduce oxidative stress, limit the bleeding process, promote regenerative capacity, improve the function of the optic nerve, reduce glia activity, reduce apoptosis, increase BBB integrity and reduce inflammatory responses.”

The same study indicated that quercetin’s antioxidant abilities also have neuroprotective effects. Examples include “increasing learning and memory, reducing mitochondrial dysfunction, reducing senile plaques, and promoting oxidative defense through activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK).”⁶

Quercetin’s cancer-fighting abilities

According to Dr. Denise Milstein, director of integrative medicine at the Arizona branch of the Mayo Clinic, quercetin has anti-cancer abilities.⁷ And this statement is supported by published studies.

In the 2023 study,⁸ Researchers have reported that quercetin has a therapeutic effect on blood, lung and prostate cancers. It works by regulating molecular factors involved in signaling pathways, promoting apoptosis and autophagy in cancer cells.

In addition, quercetin has an anti-angiogenic effect on cancer by reducing the proliferation of tumor-related blood vessels. It also has an anti-metastatic effect. It inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells isolated from the primary tumor by inhibiting various molecular pathways and angiogenesis.⁹

Quercetin has been studied in various animal models and human cancer cell lines. In a review published in 2022,¹⁰ It has been shown to affect leukemia, breast, osteosarcoma and pancreatic cancers. A separate study shows that quercetin also targets colon cancer cells.¹¹

“Quercetin arrested colon cancer growth by modulating the expression of aging proteins, including Sirtuin-6 and Klotho, and inhibited telomerase activity, limiting telomere length as demonstrated by qPCR analysis. The authors of the study mentioned.

Viruses are eliminated by Quercetin

The name of quercetin as an antiviral agent was first introduced after the 2003 SARS outbreak. In report¹² Published in the Canadian journal Maclean’s, medical researchers Michel Chrétien and Majambu Mbikei discovered that quercetin has a “broad-spectrum” ability to help fight various viruses.

In the year They tested their concept during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa and found that quercetin was effective against the virus “only minutes before infection.” During the Covid-19 pandemic, Chrétien, Mbikay and other researchers pushed quercetin as an antiviral intervention.¹³ The question is how effective is this strategy?

In a study¹⁴ Published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, researchers conducted an open-label, randomized control trial in Lahore, Pakistan. A total of 108 patients aged 18 years and older were selected for testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and divided into two groups – the test group received 500 mg (milligrams) of quercetin (in addition to standard care) and the control group. Just regular care.

After one week, quercetin was able to reduce the persistence of the virus by 24% in the test group by 68% compared to the control group. This means you have tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In conclusion, the researchers indicated that quercetin enhanced the experimental group’s recovery from Covid-19.¹⁵

Researchers from a study¹⁶ In the year Published in 2022, they uncovered a mechanism for why quercetin is effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2. According to their observations, quercetin generally binds to hemagglutinin glycoproteins and prevents viruses from entering cells. But in SARS-CoV-2, quercetin inhibits the 3-chmotypsin-like protease (3CLpro) needed to replicate the virus. Another way quercetin inhibits viral replication is by inhibiting the Mpro protein.

SARS-CoV-2 is not the only virus that quercetin inhibits. Other strains known to respond to quercetin include other coronaviruses, influenza, human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rhinovirus.¹⁷ If you are prone to colds and flu, consider taking quercetin for two months before cold and flu season to boost your immune system.

Zinc enhances the antiviral benefits of quercetin

Although quercetin is amazing on its own, you can still improve its effectiveness. One strategy is to increase zinc intake, as quercetin acts as a zinc ionophore.¹⁸ This method works by transporting zinc ions through cellular membranes and into the cell, which helps to stop the replication of viruses.

This method has been studied¹⁹ Published in the British Journal of Nutrition. While the researchers state that the exact mechanisms are unknown, the following theories have been postulated.

“The anti-viral functions of Zn are based on the inhibition of physical processes, such as virus modification, infection and envelope, as well as the inhibition of viral protease and polymerase enzymatic functions. Increasing the concentration of intracellular Zn can disrupt the proteolytic process of the viral protein, affecting the membrane.

In addition, high intracellular Zn concentrations can directly affect viral proteases (picornavirus, encephalomyocarditis, and poliovirus), and alter the tertiary structure of proteins such as encephalomyocarditis virus. In addition, Zen prevents the fusion of viral and cell membranes, preventing viral infection.”

Zinc is not only needed for antiviral protection. It is also involved in other important processes such as cell division and growth and wound healing. According to a study²⁰ Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, zinc helps with glucose absorption and regulates energy metabolism. If you don’t get enough zinc, your sense of taste²¹ And smell²² They are also affected.

Where can you get zinc? Natural sources include grass-fed beef and Greek yogurt, mushrooms, cheddar cheese, pastured eggs, and broccoli.²³ If you choose to take a supplement, I would be cautious about taking more than 15 mg per day, as you must include zinc in other foods you eat. If you already eat a large amount of animal foods, you don’t even need to take any extra food.

That said, Chris Masterjohn, Ph.D., says the ideal dose for zinc supplementation is 7 to 15 mg four times a day on an empty stomach or with a phytate-free meal.²⁴ Also be careful with copper intake as an imbalanced zinc to copper ratio can compromise the benefits of zinc on quercetin.

Try these dietary sources of Quercetin

The best thing about quercetin is that it is already found in many fruits and vegetables. So, if you’re eating a balanced diet, you can get it from a variety of sources. But if you want to up your intake, Milstein says cranberries, dark grapes, garlic, capers and apples (with the skin) are good sources.²⁵ Additional resources include:²⁶

From the examples mentioned above, I would like to emphasize the levels of quercetin found in onions, especially their peels. According to a published study²⁷ “77 times more quercetin is found in onion peels than in the edible portion.” This is due to the antimicrobial properties of quercetin.²⁸ It acts as a protective barrier to protect the rest of the vegetables from soil microbes.²⁹

If the idea of ​​peeling an onion doesn’t appeal to you, there is a workaround – make onion skin soup to extract quercetin and other antioxidants. In a study³⁰ Published in food, cooking onions increases its useful properties, especially baking, frying and frying. Although all methods are useful for increasing the properties of quercetin, the bioavailability varies

“After in vitro digestion, the bioaccessibility index for total phenolic compounds ranged from 42.6% to 65.5% for roasted and baked YSO (yellow-skin onions), respectively, and between 39.8% and 80.2% for roasted and baked RSO (red-skin) onions). , respectively, baking contributed to the formation of higher amounts of bioavailable phenolic compounds for both types of onion.

Should You Take a Quercetin Supplement?

According to a study³¹ Published in Frontiers in Immunology, quercetin has an excellent safety profile. Researchers have found that up to 1 gram (1,000 mg) per day for three months has no significant side effects. Quercetin in the blood is a different matter, however

“In a phase 1 clinical trial, intravenous administration of quercetin to cancer patients caused nausea, vomiting, sweating, flushing, and difficulty breathing >10.5 mg/Kg (756 mg per 70 kg)./kg (approximately 3,591 mg per individual) They are associated with kidney toxicity.”

In addition to this, consider increasing your vitamin C intake through food or supplements. Like zinc, vitamin C has been shown to increase the effectiveness of quercetin. The same study indicated that vitamin C and quercetin have a synergistic antiviral action due to their overlapping benefits. Moreover, vitamin C helps quercetin to be recycled, which increases its effectiveness.³² This benefit has also been confirmed in other studies.^33,34

The dosage is half of the equation. The other half is when you take quercetin supplements. I believe that taking quercetin (with zinc) before going to bed is the best way to go. Also remember that the last meal should be taken three to four hours before going to bed. Then sleep for eight hours.

If you are metabolically active, your body goes into a fast state during sleep and your NADPH levels increase. As stated in the study³⁵ Imprinted in cells, NADPH is required for the synthesis of nitric oxide, which leads to the formation of peroxynitrite in the mitochondria. From this, mitophagy can be used to regulate the metabolism of neurons in Parkinson’s disease.

Another benefit of taking quercetin at night is its senolytic action to eliminate senescent cells, which are the same as non-replicating cancer cells that produce powerful pro-inflammatory cytokines that destroy your health. You can optimize quercetin’s senolytic properties if you take it while fasting.

Source link