Tuesday 27 November 2012

What Is Quercetin?


Quercetin  is a flavonoid, a plant-derived compound found in fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids have generated scientific interest because of their potential beneficial effects on human health, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and antiviral activities.


Herbs and botanicals have a long history of traditional medicinal use in many countries. Flavonoids were not discovered until the 1930s, but now more than 4,000 types have been identified. In recent years, these naturally occurring substances have been receiving increased attention by researchers, and quercetin in particular has shown great promise.
Quercetin is widely found in apple skins, berries, and tea. There has been increasing interest in quercetin in the sports science and athletic communities due to scientific and clinical research results that show quercetin’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other properties are likely to improve mental and physical performance. In addition, emerging evidence suggests quercetin may reduce infection risk during intense physical exercise.

In recent years, there have been several credible clinical studies that have shown that athletes, as well as untrained individuals, can experience increased endurance by consuming quercetin.
An independent, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study from the University of South Carolina showed that when 12 healthy, active (but not highly trained) men and women consumed 500 mg of quercetin in an enriched drink mix twice daily for 7 days, they experienced a 13.2 percent increase in ride time to fatigue (based on bicycle endurance capacity) and a 3.9 percent increase in VO2max (maximum oxygen consumption).

Researchers from Appalachian State University found that when untrained males consumed 1000 mg of quercetin each day for two weeks they experienced a statistically significant improvement of 2.9% in 12-minute treadmill time trial performance.

One large apple  contains only about 10mg of Quercetin, .While there are many benefits to consuming quercetin-rich foods, you cannot achieve the endurance benefits through food and diet alone. thus by simply eating quercetin-rich fruits and vegetables For example, by consuming 500 mg of Quercetin twice a day, it takes someone to eat 100 apples a day to get the same amount of quercetin.