A new research project by the University of South Carolina has found that the natural compound, quercetin is successful in giving relief to adults suffering from fatigue and stress when they exercise. It was also found that it boosted the endurance of seasoned athletes.
Dr. J. Mark Davis and his research team at the Arnold School of Public Health designed a research project to test quercetin's impact on fatigue and stress on subjects that were not regularly involved in any exercise program. They selected a group of students and divided them into two groups. The quercetin group was given two 500mg of quercetin per day for a week and the placebo group took their placebo for a week. The daily routine called for the students to be involved in an endurance exercise of riding a stationary bicycle to their maximum ability. After completing their exercise, each student's lung capacity was measured. The total time for the project was two weeks. After completion of the first week they changed the dosage for each group. The quercetin group stopped using quercetin and started taking the placebo for the second week and so the placebo group switched to the quercetin. When the two weeks were completed performance data was compared. When the researchers compared the data from the two groups, they found that the endurance of the quercetin group increased an average of almost 15%. These results were reported in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. They stated, "These data suggest that as little as seven days of quercetin supplementation can increase endurance without exercise training in untrained participants."
Dr. Davis and his team went on to express the belief quercetin could not only be important for regular exercisers and athletes, but could be very important to people with chronic health problems and those that experience problems when confronted with any kind of challenging physical exertion. The researchers believe quercetin is important when it comes to relieving fatigue which acts to keep the patient sedentary. Dr. Davis believes this is great news for those who feel they are too tired to exercise. Dr. Davis and the University of South Carolina put out a press release in which they stated, "We believe that this could be a major breakthrough in nutrition."
Quercetin is a natural compound that can be found in a number of vegetables and fruits such as red apples, red onions, berries and cabbages. To date it is not really understood why quercetin can boost exercise endurance. Earlier research using animal studies indicated that quercetin acts to increase the mitochondria in each cell, which would increase the available energy in the body, brain and muscle cells. Other research studies have found that quercetin is anti-inflammatory. The University of South Carolina research team has used the data from their study and the other studies to seek a grant to carry out research to find if quercetin can be protective against colon cancer, and they have been given a grant to carry out their proposed research.
