What the heck is Quercetin?
Body wide pain, exhaustion, and brain-fog slowing you down? Perhaps your mitochondria needs some love. Patients at The Hormone Zone have been experiencing great health improvement with regular Intravenous (IV) Therapy. Here we explore one of our most popular IVs, Quercetin.
To begin, let’s understand the function of our mitochondria. The mitochondria are organelles that produce energy. When we eat food it is metabolized through several biochemical pathways, ultimately producing adenosine triphostate or ATP. ATP is our energy for life. To feel great we want our mitochondria working at optimal capacity and producing a lot of ATP. The problem is, chemical exposure, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, daily stress, inflammation and free radicals can damage the mitochondria and slow their function. To combat this in three ways: ANTIINFLAMMATION, ANTIOXIDANTS, and MITOCHONDRIAL MEMBRANE REPAIR.
Antiinflammatory is one of Quercetin’s primary functions. Quercetin is found in many of the dark fruits and veggies we love to eat including berries, red grapes, tomatoes, kale, broccoli and cabbage. This polyphenol from the flavonoid group provides plants with colors including red, blues and yellow.
There are several systems in the body that stimulate inflammation that rely on internal chemical signals to activate. Functions of quercetin include antiinflammation by shutting off the chemical signals from cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase. (1) This is the same way that over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatories work such as Advil. This can help reduce the cardinal signs of inflammation including swelling, redness, heat and pain.
An additional way that Quercetin reduces inflammation is through the stabilization of mast cells.(2) Mast cells are located in several places including the gut and sinuses. The mast cells release a chemical called histamine. Histamine is responsible for activating our immune response to things we are allergic too. When histamine levels are high we experience itchy watery eyes, cough, runny nose, swollen tongue and nasal congestion. Quercetin can be found in natural allergy relief formulas for its ability to reduce histamine release.
Lastly we see Quercetin act as a very strong antioxidant in its ability for scavenge free radicals. Free radicals can be thought of as pollution in the body. When excess pollution exists it is taxing for our cells to clean it out which further increases the inflammation process. Quercetin has been seen to have similar range of health benefits comparable to those of curcumin. (3)
We deliver this super nutrient to our patients through intravenous therapy. In a simple 10-15 minute appointment our patients receive up to 240 mg of Quercetin. It is conveniently administered directly into blood stream where it can utilized system wide. It is fast and effective. Call today to book your appointment to see if Quercetin therapy is right for you.
(1) National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database; CID=5280343, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5280343 (accessed Sept. 15, 2017).
(2) Weng, Zuyi et al. “Quercetin Is More Effective than Cromolyn in Blocking Human Mast Cell Cytokine Release and Inhibits Contact Dermatitis and Photosensitivity in Humans.” Ed. Christian Taube. PLoS ONE 7.3 (2012): e33805. PMC. Web. 15 Sept. 2017.
(3) Zhang, M, et al. “Antioxidant properties of quercetin.” Advances in experimental medicine and biology., U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21445799. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.
