Quercetin Asthma Treatment

If you have allergies and/or asthma, and you want to treat your condition naturally, you need to study the qualities of quercetin, which is a naturally occurring substance in many foods. Quercetin acts on some allergy- and asthma-causing substances within your body, slowing or stopping your body's usual strong allergic response to your allergy and asthma triggers.

What Quercetin Is

Quercetin falls into the flavonoid class of antioxidants. This flavonoid acts on your body's release of histamines and other inflammatory or allergy-causing chemicals in your body. When you encounter a substance that your body reacts very strongly to, causing you to sneeze, develop a stuffy nose, hives, get watery eyes or develop an asthma attack, these chemicals and/or histamines increase to an abnormally high level in your body. Your nose, eyes and lungs then react, not to the allergy-causing substance, but to the histamines and other allergy chemicals present in such a high level.

Quercetin is related to one of the better-known flavonoids, rutin. It's found in blue-green algae and throughout the plant kingdom. Rutin and quercetin are plant pigments that help to protect plants from environmental stresses.

What Quercetin Does

Quercetin, as a bioflavonoid, gravitates toward basophils and mast cells in your body. Once in these cells, it works to calm the membranes and keeps them from overloading your body with allergy-causing chemicals and histamines that your body reacts so strongly to. In sufficient quantities, quercetin can block your usual strong allergic response to the substance you have just encountered, be it animal dander, pollen or dust mites.

If you have asthma (allergic), the substances you're allergic to initiate your body's immune response with histamines and other chemicals in your system. Your lungs react and it becomes harder for you to breathe; your chest becomes tight, your airways produce excess mucous and you begin to cough. Your body is releasing not only histamines but also leukotrienes. Quercetin works to inhibit the release of this substance in your body.

If your diet is naturally high in foods such as sprouts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, you're already eating a diet high in quercetin. This flavonoid is also available as a nutritional supplement, but because it is not water soluble, you should take it along with bromelain (found in pineapple), which also has anti-inflammatory properties.