Quercetin is a yellow, fat-loving plant pigment or coloring - specifically a flavonol - found in foods like onions, grapes, berries, cherries, broccoli, and citrus fruits 🍒 🥦 Quercetin is regarded for:
- ANTIOXIDANT: Quercetin attacks "free radicals" and potentially harmful cells
- ANTI-INFLAMMATORY: Quercetin can sooth regions of the body, specifically the gut, that are overreactive inflammation-causing areas
- FAT CELL MURDERER: Quercetin can kill fat cells and also block the production of fat cells.
- LIMIT L.D.L. COUNT: Quercetin can inhibit the ability of Low Density Lipoproteins (week 12's word!) to replicate
- GASTRO-PROTECTIVE: Quercetin can boost the strength of the living microbes (i.e.: last week's PROBIOTICS!) in the mucus lining of the gut wall
FUN FACT: Veggie Posers
Some fruits that masquerade as veggies: Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, avocados, okra, eggplant, olives, water chestnuts, and peppers!!
ANTIOXIDANT: What the heck is a "free radical"? 🤙
As noted in letter "N" Niacin's recap, free radicals lack one electron in their chemical makeup, so they are highly unstable, reactive, and known to damage your healthy / hard working cells. You can think of free radicals like the ball in a pinball machine that aggressively spews all around, bringing chaos and anxiety wherever it goes.
Free radicals are constantly generated, resulting in extensive damage to tissues leading to various disease conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer's, renal diseases, cardiac abnormalities, etc. (source). Unfortunately, these free radicals can be released in a multitude of ways - from mental stress to inflammation to aging...and even air pollution or cigarette smoke.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY: ...but what does this actually mean?
When parts of our human body exposed to harmful or irritating stimuli, there is a biological response called inflammation which plays a role in self-protection; the aim is to remove damaged cells, pathogens, or any harmful stimuli and begins the healing process. There are a few different types of immunity that our body has evolved to implement depending on the attacker:
- Innate: Innate immunity is the immunity you were born with. Innate immunity includes barriers that keep invaders from entering your body, as well as inflammatory responses — coughing; producing tears, sweat, mucus, and additional stomach acid; swelling; and so on.
- Acquired: Acquired immunity develops in the presence of certain antigens. It develops as your body builds defenses against specific invaders, such as viruses that cause chicken pox and the common cold.
Quercetin is known to have magic powers relax the body's inflammatory response so we are not constantly overwhelmed with swelling, redness, irritation and can instead focus on healing and maintaining homeostasis (i.e.: living life 'normally'!!!!).
QUERCETIN & FAT CELLS: the selective draw bridge of our cells!
Quercetin has a specific feature which inhibits fat accumulation in aging human fat cells and simultaneously triggers destruction of existing fat cells (source). In addition, quercetin can block the uptake of glucose or sugar from the blood...making the body more particular with the quality of glucose it chooses to absorb.
High "C-reactive protein" levels, often seen with long-term inflammation, are associated with numerous disease states such as obesity, heart disease, and lupus (source).
LIMIT L.D.L. COUNT: limits dangerous clotting 🙅🏽
As we learned in week 12, Lipo-proteins are clusters of fats (or “lipids”) + proteins are the main Uber drivers for dietary fat & cholesterol throughout the blood. L.D.L.'s are the "most villanous" of the four types of lipoproteins, as they are loaded with cholesterol and often notorious for clogging arteries.
Quercetin inhibits the clumping of blood cells throughout our veins caused by these L.D.L.s. Quercetin also lowers blood pressure by making our cell lining more flexible to accommodate build up if it does need to occur due to a cut in our skin. Check out the video below to learn more about our response to cuts / wounds! 👇👇👇
GASTRO-PROTECTIVE: gives healthy probiotics and mucus strong muscles!
There is a thick layer of mucus lining on the walls of our gut and intestines! This mucus lining eases the movement of food along the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, preventing severe physical discomfort when digesting food. Flavonoids, like quercetin, can increase in the thickness and integrity of this mucosal lining, and provide this lining with anti-ulcer and anti-infection properties by feeding the living probiotics dwelling there (source).
