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Allergy: Quercetin and Bromelain
July 3, 2009 |
Quercetin and Bromelain
Two other natural products that may be worth consideration against allergies are quercetin and bromelain. Quercetin is an antioxidant flavonoid that is found in many fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The anti-inflammatory effect of quercetin helps stabilize mast cells. These are the cells in your eyes, nose, and lungs (and other places in your body) that are highly sensitive to allergens.
Think of mast cells as floating mines. When they come into contact with allergens like ragweed pollen or dust mite poop, a switch gets thrown on these cellular “mines” and all hell breaks loose. Mast cells start releasing histamine and other chemicals called kinins (pronounced KYE-nins), which then turn on a cascade of other nasty things like leukotrienes and prostaglandins. The end result is sneezing, itching, inflammation, and congestion.
Quercetin, especially when combined with bromelain (an enzyme derived from pineapple), seems to stabilize mast cells and make them less likely to trigger the release of such chemicals.44 45,46
We think such an approach may be more logical than trying to block the effect of histamine with antihistamines.
Think of it this way. If your mast cells are like a barn holding in a bunch of wild horses (histamine molecules), then what would be more efficient—reinforcing the door and walls of the barn to keep those wild histamines inside or trying to protect all the grass in your pasture from having those histamine “horses” nibbling away at it? Antihistamines are like a chemical barrier that tries to protect your grass once the horses are out of the barn. But they are not 100 percent efficient, and some histamine will always find a target and wreak havoc. Keeping the barn closed tightly (or the mast cells stabilized) seems to us to be a more effective approach.