Hi everyone, I’ve been looking into taking quercetin dihydrate to help with allergies and boost my iron uptake and general health issues. I have read a couple of reports that it can affect the thyroid. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of using it? I don’t have a thyroid and take Levo, I don’t want to take anything that will interfere with the ability of my body to utilise thyroxine but as I’m not medical or science based at all, I don’t really understand what the studies seem to be saying.
Anyone able to help? Thanks in advance
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Topes009
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I take quercitin (have been doing so since January on advice from a Macmillan nurse) and it's something you might want to do a bit of research on.
The difference between quercetin and quercetin dihydrate is that quercetin is a plant flavonoid, whereas quercetin dihydrate is a synthetic chemical compound.
I take the natural form which is Fava D'Anta pod and seed extra.
We do get some quercitin from some foods so I stick to 500mg dose.
I do get comprehensive blood tests with my GP surgery on a regular basis so if there were any problems they'd show up, after using it for 3 months there had been no change in any of my levels.
In this instance it was for it's anti-cancer properties. This particular nurse is very much into supplements, it was purely her own personal opinion she was passing on rather than anything official from Macmillan. Besides quercitin she also mentioned Vit D and Vit C, maybe others but I can't remember any more. She mentioned "What doctors don't tell you" (and I'm sure I read about that years ago or maybe even have a book with that title) but I believe you have to subscribe to that. Maybe she's a bit of a rebel and goes against mainstream 😊
Hi Topes009. I have been taking Quercetin( plant based) for ca. 1.5 years as I have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance along with Hashis. I take 1‘500mg / day. 1x 500mg capsule 30 mins before each meal to help calm histamine reactions down as I have multiple food intolerances. I have seen no effect on my thyroid values at all during that time and K test very regularly. Hope that helps.,
thank you for your replies. I think plant based is best, wasn’t aware that the other was synthetic. From the research I’ve found it does seem to have some very good properties.
Hi Topes009, thank you for this thread. Can you expand on the idea of using quercetin to boost iron? My understanding has always been that quercetin actually strongly inhibits iron absorption, so I always try to eat quercetin-rich foods away from iron-rich meals.
Re allergies, most years I get severe allergy (pollen-food) issues that seem to be a lot less severe so far this spring, and have been wondering if the new addition of capers (highest food concentration of quercetin) along with greater amounts of other quercetin-rich foods in my diet over winter have made the difference. Always been scared to supplement due to possible effects on thyroid functioning (still have my thyroid) so it’s very helpful to hear of others’ experiences. Please let us know how it goes for you if you supplement!
Quercetin inhibits iron, much like tumeric. It works on many different levels and is known as an iron chelator. Studies have only been carried out on rats and I think you have take it long term and in a large quantities to make any difference. Half my family have iron overload but even those who don't still use quercetin for hay fever.
Quercetin Inhibits Intestinal Iron Absorption and Ferroportin Transporter Expression In Vivo and In Vitro. ... ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
This haemochromatosis site isn't great as they are trying to sell something but the research papers are interesting. Benefits of Quercetin for Hemochromatosis .. .. hemochromatosishelp.com/que...
Hi Radd, thanks for replying. Yes I too had seen this research, and though the terminology in that article was a bit difficult to muddle thru by my foggy fatigued brain, I've also read other studies that seemed to more clearly indicate that quercetin inhibits iron absorption when the two are ingested together even short term - hence my curiosity regarding information Topes009 had come across on using it to boost iron!
Here's one article that mentions the short term effect, though I could swear I read about it in the context of human diets as well, including discussion of apples and onions in particular, but will have to look a bit more to find that article:
Quercetin inhibits intestinal non-haem iron absorption by regulating iron metabolism genes in the tissues: link.springer.com/article/1...
"The gavage protocol used in the present study was designed to imitate the diet of individuals consuming quercetin both randomly and regularly. Results from our present study indicate that oral quercetin had significant effects on both iron absorption and gene expression of duodenal proteins involved in iron metabolism, as well as iron pools in liver and spleen. Specifically, during short- and long-term settings, oral quercetin generally caused iron depletion and this was evident from the significantly reduced absorption rate of non-haem iron, reduced liver and spleen iron pools and levels of duodenal iron transporters."
By the way, even the "long-term" setting that they mention seems to be only 10 days, if I understood it correctly. Don't have the energy these days to read research too thoroughly so pls dont hesitate to let me know I seem to be misinterpreting something
I have a strong tendency to low ferritin/iron, so the opposite issue as your family.
thanks for the info asidist, I’m glad you did as I was under the wrong impression that it helped iron, not sure where I saw something that made me think that but on research I see that it has the opposite effect which is a pain as I have low ferritin /iron but also allergies which the Quercetin may help with.
Wondered if that might be the case, or if perhaps new contradictory research had come out!
I relate to that conundrum, having both issues as well, which is partly why I’ve stuck with dietary forms to date. Wonder if simply spacing the two apart sufficiently (eg taking one during the day and the other in the eve) would do the trick?
SeasideSusie , have you noticed any change in your iron/ferritin levels since adding in the quercetin supplement ?
I happened to do an iron panel early February and I'd not been on the quercitin more than a few days so it wouldn't have had any effect on iron levels by them. My ferritin is normally elevated somewhat due to CRP never being very low due to my lung disease. However, I had ferritin tested late March but it was very much higher due to severe illness so it's an unreliable marker. I just can't rely on my ferritin results at all.
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