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02.02.2022

How vitamin C boosts quercetin's antiviral action

The antiviral effects of zinc, vitamin C and quercetin reinforce each other, say supplement experts. The more we delve into the matter, the more convinced we become that they are right.

What we already knew about zinc
Zinc supplementation accelerates the healing of a common cold. A good zinc status also improves the prospects, including survival, in covid patients. Viruses are less likely to replicate in cells if they contain a high concentration of zinc.

What we already knew about quercetin
Both in vitro and human studies suggest that quercetin has antiviral activity. This is in any case largely due to the fact that quercetin makes cells absorb more zinc.

And this we already knew about vitamin C
A good vitamin C status also has a protective effect when it comes to viral infections. In people with serious covid, the vitamin C level is remarkably often remarkably low, we know from medical epidemiological research.

A few days ago we wrote about an older study in which supplementation with a quercetin preparation protected against colds. This preparation also contained a significant amount of vitamin C. According to the makers of the conscious supplements, the antiviral effects of vitamin C enhance those of quercetin.

The figure below is taken from that article. You look at the concentration of quercetin in the blood of the test subjects.

If you have any idea how quickly quercetin disappears from the body, you will consider the measured concentrations to be remarkably high. Apparently vitamin C increases the bioavailability of quercetin.

A 1988 study
How vitamin C increases both the bioavailability and the antiviral effect of vitamin C is probably stated in an in vitro study that Belgian microbiologists, affiliated with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, published in 1988.

The researchers released a virus into a petri dish with human cells. If the viruses were able to penetrate and damage the cells, the cells formed a plaque. The larger the plaque, the greater the damage caused by the virus.

In a series of tests, the Belgians looked at whether quercetin and the related flavonoid luteolin could reduce the viral havoc - and whether the addition of vitamin C still had an effect.

The figures below show that luteolin was a better virus inhibitor than quercetin. Vitamin C had no influence on the antiviral effect of luteolin, but did increase the antiviral effect of quercetin.

The researchers suspect that the hydroxyl group in the third position of the molecule makes quercetin vulnerable to conversion into inactive substances. That would explain why luteolin, lacking this hydroxyl group, is a more effective antiviral than quercetin.

Vitamin C, in itself a strong antioxidant, protects the 3-hydroxyl group of quercetin and reduces the risk of inactivation, the Belgians write.

Source:
J Gen Virol. 1988 Jul;69 ( Pt 7):1749-51.

More:
Infected with corona? You need more vitamin C 30.09.2021
Get over colds faster thanks to a combination of zinc and vitamin C 09.09.2020

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Quercetin analogs provide just as much protection against viruses as quercetin itself Quercetin may be able to protect against viruses, this website reported several times. What applies to quercetin, also applies to all kinds of quercetin analogs, such as rutin, quercitrin and isorhamnetin.	High-dose quercetin protects against colds - if you're 40+ and fit If you are no longer very young but still fit, then supplementing with a high dose of quercetin may reduce the chance that common cold viruses make you ill.	Does quercetin take the sting out of covid? Quercetin reduces the risk of complications from an infection with SARS-Cov2. Sponsored human study.