The Unknown Health Champ:  Quercetin

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Want to protect your DNA? If you could, your chances of getting cancer would be significantly reduced.

One of the scientifically proven but not popularly realized nutrients is a prime ingredient in all plants called quercetin. It performs many essential protections including destroying harmful bacteria and protecting against harmful effects of the sun (which accompany its healthful effects.)

As scientists in the Graduate Program in Nutrition, U. of N. Carolina pointed out recently, 'modest] amounts of green tea's principal ingredient and quercetin "...inhibit ...damage to cellular DNA" (emphasis added).

They also note that "...high concentrations of either ECGC 'in green tea] or quercetin alone induced cellular damage. That's a warning against high quantity intake of quercetin pills as well as drinking too much green tea. How much is too much? We don't know. But one might guess that five tablespoons (or about ten tea bags) might be just over the top. And one could surmise that a diet with 7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day may be the limit. As for supplements, we would not take more than 25mg (splitting a 50mg. pill.)

One chapter on green tea and another on quercetin are in What Your Doctor Doesn't Know Could Kill You. For ordering instructions click here

The Unknown Health Champ:  Quercetin Bibliography

Graduate Program in Nutrition, U. of N. Carolina, Drs. MK Johnson & G. Loo. U.N.C. branch at Greensboro, North Caroline, quoted from Mutation Research, vol. 459, 2000.