Quercetin

About Quercetin

Quercetin is a plant flavonol, one of the subclasses of flavonoids, and is among the most common flavonoids in the human diet. Its name derives from quercetum, Latin for oak forest. In plants it occurs mainly as glycosides bound to sugars such as glucose and rhamnose, rutin being a well known example, and it is abundant in onions, capers, apples, berries, kale and tea. In laboratory studies it shows antioxidant and anti inflammatory activity, including inhibition of histamine release from mast cells, and it has antiviral activity in cell culture. Human trials have examined quercetin for blood pressure, exercise performance and allergic conditions, with modest or mixed findings. Oral bioavailability is low and depends on the food matrix and the form of the glycoside. Quercetin has also attracted interest as a senolytic agent, a compound that selectively clears senescent cells, usually studied in combination with the cancer drug dasatinib in early research on aging.