There are endless supplements on the shelf at your local health food and grocery stores. Supplements have become a large part of people’s daily routine - and for a good reason! But with the increasing variety comes increased levels of confusion regarding what you are actually buying and how it's helping your body. We’re here to shine the spotlight on quercetin—a powerful brain booster, immunity supporter and antioxidant. Let’s dig in!
It's common to hear that green tea, kale, apples, wild blueberries and dark chocolate are superfoods, but it's rare to hear someone list quercetin. The superfood was discovered in 1930 by Albert Szent Gyorgyi and has been extensively researched ever since. Quercetin is derived from a plant pigment that is a potent antioxidant, bioflavonoid and a flavanol. It is commonly found in dark leafy greens, berries, broccoli, tomatoes and other dark pigmented plant-based foods. Antioxidants help to combat oxidative stress that our bodies experience. When our levels of inflammation increase or our cells are at risk of being damage causing antioxidants to jump to the rescue and save the day by battling to combat them. Bioflavonoids on the other hand, help to enhance the action of vitamin C to support our immune system, treat allergies, viruses, inflammation and improve blood circulation. The last of the trio, flavanols, help to improve blood pressure levels, improve blood flow to the brain and heart while preventing blood clots and help to fight against cell damage.
Research has shown the powerful anti-inflammatory effects that quercetin exhibits on the body including managing inflammation, allergies, infections, chronic fatigue and arthritis. When our bodies are under stress, whether it's physical stress from an active job or mental stress from life, we are exposed to oxidative stress that is easily worsened when combined with a poor diet, lack of sleep and lack of exercise. Enter quercetin—it's here to save the day and our bodies! Quercetin serves as a powerful immune booster and regulator through its cell signalling pathways called “kinases and phosphatases.” These are types of enzymes and membrane proteins that are required for proper cellular function. When our cells are working for us, we are at our healthiest. So let’s feed them the food they need to work optimally and help to keep our allergies at bay this season.
How Does Quercetin Reduce Allergies?
Our immune system releases histamines when we are exposed to allergens, be it new allergens or ones that they recognize from past reactions. This causes inflammation levels in the body to rise, congestion, runny noses, watery eyes, fatigue, difficulty breathing and weakens our immune system. Quercetin, on the other hand, serves as the opposite; an antihistamine. Quercetin can help stabilize the release of histamines from our other immune cells to reduce the severity of reactions and coupled with its friend vitamin C, quercetin becomes a supercharged superfood and allergy-fighting weapon! Vitamin C, which can be easily found in citrus fruits, bell peppers, kale,sweet potatoes, Ener-C Multivitamin packets and a variety of other foods, is a well known allergy combat. It helps to prevent the secretion of histamine (the chemical that causes our reactions to occur) by our white blood cells. Vitamin C, like quercetin, contains powerful antioxidants that help to protect against free radicals and aid in the body in its metabolic processes. The lifetime of vitamin C in adults is rather short, this is due to the nature of it being a water soluble vitamin. We process it rather quickly and excrete any additional vitamin C that our bodies do not require. Because our bodies cannot store vitamin C, it is important to ensure that you are eating vitamin C rich foods and supplementing with Ener-C Multivitamin packets to keep your immune system strong and allergies at bay. Now before you go scrambling searching for quercetin and vitamin C on the internet, we’ve already done it for you! We’ve purposely designed our Ener-C Lime and Orange Multivitamin flavours to include these two allergy busting superfoods! Conveniently in one package, this is the easiest way to keep your immune system strong, your inflammation levels low and your allergies at bay. Stock up on these tasty flavours and give your body what it craves: An allergy free year!
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