By now, you’ve probably heard the good news. Vitamin C and Vitamin D (both ingredients in a dose of immunity) have been linked to providing support against COVID-19. While we’re still continuing to learn about the virus, there are a few other key players that haven’t been in the spotlight as much as Vitamins C and D. One of the game changers you need to know about? Quercetin. Here’s the key points for you to keep in mind about Quercetin and its role in COVID-19.
What is Quercetin?
Put as simply as possible, quercetin is a plant pigment. Quercetin can be found in a variety of different plants and foods alike, such as green tea, apples, kale, berries, red wine, onions, St. John’s wort, and more. It’s also present in some gains.
Quercetin is a very powerful antioxidant that is and was widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. It has the ability to maintain oxidative balance, giving it those potent antioxidant qualities. Antioxidants themselves are compounds that neutralize free radicals by scavenging and binding to them. If free radicals, or unstable molecules, are present in the body at too high of a level, they might cause permanent cellular damage.
Quercetin has a long list of benefits, including:
- Easing allergies
- Helping with general health
- Fighting off inflammation
- Maintaining general health
- Boosting immunity
When it comes to Quercetin and Covid-19, the benefit that research is most interested in is its potential to boost immunity.
Quercetin and COVID-19
In quercetin studies, researchers have seen promising effects of antiviral significance.
Those who are studying the usage of quercetin as a supplement are saying that it can be used in conjunction with a treatment regimen and interventions like convalescent plasma and remdesivir. In the past, quercetin research was looking at its ability to prevent cancer and heart disease.
Quercetin promotes SIRT2, which in turn suppresses the NLRP3 inflammasome assembly. This is a type of cell death that triggers the release of inflammatory cytokines in the body. The NLRP3 inflammasome assembly is one of the responses seen with COVID-19 infection.
In a 2016 quercetin study, rodents were administered quercetin. They were then exposed to a lethad load of the Ebola virus. The rodents survived. Quercetin is thought to prohibit viral entry, and therefore reduce cytopathic effects of viruses, such as rhinovirus, poliovirus, and now, potentially, coronavirus. In fact, in the SARS-CoV-1 coronavirus outbreak in 2003, researchers in China found that quercetin was bound to the virus. In binding to the coronavirus, it was restricting the virus’s ability to infect the body.
After discovering that quercetin was bound to the spokes of coronavirus, a quercetin study in Turkey administered quercetin, Vitamin C, and bromelain to 95 patients, with 1,000 mg as their dose. No deaths were observed among patients with COVID-19 who were using this treatment.
Quercetin and Zinc
So, quercetin might play an important role in strengthening immunity against Coronavirus. What about when it’s combined with zinc?
Quercetin helps facilitate the transportation of zinc across lipid membranes. Zinc itself helps promote the development of immune cells, and may help to reduce the risk of contracting a respiratory infection. On top of that, it might also help reduce the amount of days that someone has a respiratory tract infection if they were to develop one.
When zinc is taken for five months or more, it can help prevent you from contracting a common cold. However, if you do get sick, and you take a zinc supplement within 24 hours of experiencing cold symptoms, it might be able to prevent how long your cold lasts and make the symptoms less severe. When these attributes are applied to coronavirus, zinc has promise.
In 2010, a zinc study done by the University of Leiden set out to discover the effects that zinc had in inhibiting replication of a cousin of SARS-CoV2. This was a cousin of the SARS virus seen in the 2003 outbreak. Similar to quercetin, zinc latches onto the coronavirus spokes and plays a part in preventing it from infecting the body and multiplying.
A recent 2020 study looked at symptomatic patients that were admitted to a hospital in Barcelona during March and April. They took the fasting blood levels of zinc of 611 men and women, who were 63 years old on average. The patients who passed away from coronavirus were shown to have lower zinc levels than those who did not. Lower zinc levels at admission to the hospital, even, were correlated with higher inflammation throughout the whole course of their infection.
While studies are still being done about how effective zinc and quercetin are, and what quercetin’s role in fighting off COVID-19 is, the correlations thus far have been overwhelmingly positive in showing that the two supplements play a role in supporting immunity, which is vastly important not only for providing protection against COVID-19, but also for overall health in general.
The best quercetin supplement you can get is one that’s been properly tested for proper dosage, and quality controlled. Then, combine it with the power of Zinc, echinacea, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D. That’s what you’ve got with a dose of immunity. These five potent ingredients are the dose you need to keep your immunity strong during tough times. Remember - the correct dose is everything.