“How was the immune system and herbal workshop this weekend”, many folks have been asking. Great! We had an awesome group! We all learned about quercetin, antioxidants, anti-virals and other herbal properties. We also made several herbal preparations through the day, including decoctions, infusions, tea bags, immune system soup(with lots of quercetin) for lunch, tinctures and elderberry syrup, taking home a few of these creations as well. Thanks so much to Nick, who helped significantly, mostly dishwashing and helping me keep the organizational flow.

Interactive and experiential learning is my favorite way of sharing my knowledge and skills in classes, and I also enjoy sharing written and verbal information as another way of learning.

I decided to share with you a snippet of what we talked about, if you’re interested…quercetin.

Quercetin is a fabulous bioflavonoid antioxidant found in many healthy foods, including apples, onions, red wine, cocoa, dark cherries & berries, grapes, leafy greens & broccoli, beans, green teas, elderberries, sage, gingko biloba, and even St. John’s Wort.

A big buzzword in the health-food world is “Superfoods”, many of which are mentioned above.  Although there is not a lot of science for the word “superfood”, quercetin proves to be one of the most well researched bioflavonoids. Quercetin, amazing in its own right, is also a synergist with other flavonoids and antioxidants, helping to increase the absorption of healthy properties.

Quercetin helps build endurance for healthy immune system function. This powerful antioxidant acts as an anti-inflammatory and anti-viral, which can be helpful for chronic fatigue, allergies, infection, and arthritis. Quercetin promotes proper cell functioning and healthy immune response to outside stressors. Also there are some studies showing quercetin to stimulate brain neurogenesis.

Quercetin helps to scavenge and stop damage from free radicals(molecules that are missing an electron), that cause oxidation in your body. Antioxidants like quercetin help to neutralize free radicals, to maintain balance and natural detoxification in your body.

When your body is out of balance oxidative stress is more likely to happen. Smoking, environmental toxins, poor diet, lack of sleep, too much stress, and even over-exercising can be conditions which contribute to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can cause toxins to build up in your body, which can lead to all sorts of issues. Quercetin protects the body against oxidative stress.

These are just a few highlights of quercetin! In the class we did much more than quercetin talk but thought this would be fun to share with you!

EAT your leafy greens, dark cherries & berries, apples, onions, grapes! Drink green tea, Use elderberry syrup and tincture. For more information please contact me!

Resources for this article:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808895/

http://www.integrativepro.com/Resources/Integrative-Blog/2016/Quercetin-Food-Compared-Supplementation

https://draxe.com/quercetin/

http://www.integrativepro.com/Resources/Integrative-Blog/2016/What-are-Free-Radicals-and-Oxidative-Stress

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Javier_Gonzalez-Gallego/publication/7587142_Quercetin_decreases_oxidative_stress_NF-kB_activation_and_iNOS_overexpression_in_liver_of_streptozotocin-induced_diabetic_rats/links/0c96052a5f41dd7353000000.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19661619

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/296/4/R1071