What’s All The Buzz About Quercetin?

Quercetin has been in the news lately, particularly as one of many potential therapeutics that might have some benefit in the prevention or treatment of COVID infection. Is there anything to this?

Big media and the medical establishment are quick to pounce on any “unapproved” potential therapeutics that haven’t gone through large prospective randomized clinical trials and don’t have the seal of FDA approval. Even FDA approval is not enough if the medications are being used off-label as in the case of hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. Decades ago, both were deemed safe and effective by the FDA and approved for human use, although not for COVID or similar viral infections as COVID didn’t even exist when the FDA approved these medications.

Today there is a peculiar hostility toward these medications, both of which are on the list of the World Health Organization’s essential medicines. A Fox News host told viewers that hydroxychloroquine “will kill you” and the FDA told its Twitter followers that ivermectin is for horses and cows and to stop using it. This must have been shocking news to millions around the world who take these medications, some for many years, in the U.S. prescribed by a physician, and elsewhere in the world readily available over the counter.

I am not advocating for or against these drugs, instead referring interested readers to other sources of information on the science and potential benefits of these medications in our fight against COVID. Quercetin appears to be the third in this line of potential therapeutics, not yet being called horse paste, but if history is a guide, it may soon be maligned as dog and cat medicine, the same of which can be said for many drugs taken by humans but also used in animals.

Gosh Batman! That reads like science from the prehysteric days before the ‘rona.

I take Quercetin with my zinc. I have taken D3 and maintained my D3 levels above 50 ng/ml for the last decade and am hardly ever sick.

I became a believer in Zicam during my international traveling days keeping the swabs at hand and would inhale the junk on them deeply. That is until some fool poked his brains out and they took them off the market. I still have a supply but have not needed them for quite some time.

We had better be careful with all this science or the powerful will make both Zinc and Quercetin controlled substances and they will vanish like good old Triaminic.

I have chronic urticaria (hives) .... in trying to figure something out, I ran across some research on vit D3 and chronic urticaria. I won’t get into the weeds, but it actually works for me! The study was for 4,000 iu/daily. I was taking 5,000 iu (one pill - convenient) & that took care of most of the problem. Then, in January, I had a potential exposure to COVID. For a week, I bumped my D3 to 20K/day .... exposure was a false alarm, but I noticed I had even less issues with hives - dropped down to 10K a day ... similar result, so that’s where I’ve stayed.

I also take Quercetin (with Vit C - same pill, Q needs C to work), zinc, & magnesium, plus more C than is in the Q pills.

When I come back home from being out in public, I use a povidone iodine nasal spray & mouthwash (I use diluted iodine, but you can use a regular mouthwash with the right ingredients). Here are the links if you’re interested in it .... they read like “science” too!!

In Vitro Efficacy of a Povidone-Iodine Nasal Antiseptic for Rapid Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32940656/

Redding doctor says there is an extra layer of protection against COVID-19 available
https://krcrtv.com/news/local/redding-doctor-says-he-may-have-a-solution-to-prevent-transmission-of-covid-19

Cetylpyridinium chloride-containing mouthwashes shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in oral cavity
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210809/Cetylpyridinium-chloride-containing-mouthwashes-shown-to-inhibit-SARS-CoV-2-in-oral-cavity.aspx

Just a note of caution that I feel compelled to leave for anyone that may stumble across this post.

I have tried to increase my quercetin with supplements. Each attempt has lead to multiple huge abscess like pockets in my mouth. The last attempt nearly pushed my lower incisors out (its been 4 months and 3 have reseated but the 4th is still a bit wonky). I stop taking it and the abscess swelling goes away.

There was a fear porn story early on back when they were claiming that the cooties could cause nearly any strange symptom where a person had supposedly died of cooties and one of the strange symptoms was that his teeth supposedly fell out. I have to wonder if this person didnt also attempt to supplement or already was supplementing for some other underlying reason that actually lead to his death but also had a strange reaction like I do.

Having said that, I dont think that the problem is the quercetin itself. I have some problems related to the consumption of things derived from pineapple but no physician has ever officially told me that Im allergic so Im not going to refer to it as that either. The bromelain that often comes with these substances is a pineapple derivative. Oddly in my case bromelain seems to do the exact opposite of all of what herbalists claim bromelain is supposed to do. All of my intentional supplementation has been with supplements that included bromelain. If anyone is having strange complications by “adding quercetin” to their diet then they may actually be a bromelain weirdo like me and should seek a source without it.

Im not entirely sure that its necessary to supplement though, at least not for us. We eat an absolutely stupid amount of onions. Its not uncommon for me to walk around just eating onions. Onions always go with meat here and Ill often saute 3lbs just as a side for supper. Of course the fact that apples, blueberries, and kale are frequently part of our diet doesnt hurt.

I guess that “that doesnt prove anything” but I can share this anecdote. Ive noted before that there is a major cultural difference here between the older diets the rurals follow and the more modern diets of todays more urban youth. Along with higher vitamin D foods (another article posted on FR covered that conversation) the rurals tend to eat a huge amount of onions and apples. As an example, believe it or not there is actually an argument going on as to whether our buttered dark rye with the Friday fish fry should continue to have onion slabs in it as a sandwich or not.

So what?

I can tell you that where I worked in a medical related field we had apartment buildings full of people diagnosed with cooties. The young urban staff were being diagnosed with cooties left and right and would win a paid 10 day vacation. The older rural staff (chain smoking, overweight, diabetic(comorbidities=bullshit)) never took a day off, never had symptoms, werent “vaccinated”, never bothered to put on a show with any of the precautions hoax, and would wind up picking up all the overtime slack left by the 20somethings.

Its not just there either, Im hearing similar things from other work places. My observation is enough of a valid “study” for me and I think others should be putting a lot less faith in what they are hearing from government and the msm.

The MSM is the government. How do you know if the government is telling the truth? Its the government, you already know its a lie. The trick then is only in determining the percentage.

Curious why you didn’t take Ivm, for treatment, like your wife did.

It was her prescription, not mine.

We have different health issue, none that are serious, but I didn't feel like going to my Dr. to get a prescription. I had called my Dr. to move my appointment I already had scheduled a few weeks away. They said,, "You'll be fine by then".

By the time I was diagnosed from the test, I was already 6 days into it and was feeling better.

It was a little worse in duration than the flu, but nothing worse.

I worked from home through half of it, kept me yard mowed, etc.

I'm curious about what NAC users think about Sulforapham?

The single most startling report about COVID-19, to me, was the one that showed a high correlation between seniors with "long COVID" and low levels of the antioxidant Glutathione, which the body naturally produces but decreasingly with age. I know that correlation does not imply causation, but I figured that it can't hurt to remove myself from this highly correlated population. After all, it was the oldest seniors who were suffering from the longest COVID-19. I'm not there yet, but why wait?

Many FReepers here have told of taking the NAC supplement (probably you all). NAC is a precursor to Glutathione, meaning that NAC increases the body's natural Glutathione production. Those same FReepers (probably you all) have mentioned that the government is pulling NAC off the shelves and moving to make it by prescription only.

Glutathione Reduced is also available as a supplement. I figured that I could take it directly and skip the precursor. But then I've been reading that NAC and Glutathione both suffer from bioavailability, the ability to survive the digestive process and actually get into the bloodstream.

The next step in my journey was to find the precursor with high bioavailability, and that seems to be Sulforaphane (cultivated from broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables).

I found this 14 minute Youtube video describing the bioavailability of Glutathione and NAC, and it is what led me to Sulforaphane. I stopped my research at this point and figured that Sulforaphane was the best alternative to NAC.

I'm really interested in fellow FReeper thoughts on this video as it relates to NAC vs Glutathione vs Sulforaphane, and possibly Glucoraphanin and Myrosinase. I bought a Sulforaphane + Myrosinase supplement that I started taking about a month ago. I also have a Glutathione Reduced supplement that I'm taking (alternating with Sulforaphane) until it runs out.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

-PJ

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