Quercetin and COVID

From https://doctormurray.com/

As you may know, in November 2020 I, Dr. Murray,  had a very mild and brief bout of COVID-19. My symptoms were limited to feelings similar to “jet lag” for about a day and a half.  

Many people have asked me if I had a secret weapon. And, yes, I think I did. It was a special form of quercetin…

Now two new clinical studies have been published with quercetin in the TREATMENT of COVID-19. I will get to those results soon. First, I want to tell you about another personal experience I had with quercetiin.

Just this past Saturday, a good friend of 35 years called me for recommendations. He had started experiencing symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 a day earlier and his test results confirmed it. He had been taking virtually everything that I suggest for COVID-19 prevention, yet he had a terrible cough and felt terrible. There was one thing he was not taking – you guessed it – QUERCETIN.

He was not able to start taking quercetin until Sunday morning. My instructions were for him to take six capsules of Quercetin LipoMicel Matrix™ twice daily for ten days. His response to the first dosage was amazing as he told me that his symptoms almost completely resolved twenty minutes after the first dosage. A day later he said he felt “1000% better.”

Now, his experience is consistent with the results from two clinical trials conducted by my friend Francesco Di Pierro, M.D., with Quercetin Phytosome®, another enhanced form of quercetin. In these studies, patients in the early stages of COVID-19 infection quercetin was added on to standard medical therapy.

The first study showed 400 mg of quercetin as Quercetin Phytosome® produced statistically significant improvement in all clinical outcomes such as need and length of hospitalization, need of non-invasive oxygen therapy, progression to intensive care units and death.

The second study provided even more encouraging results. The study enrolled 42 patients with early COVID-19 who were given either standard medical alone or quercetin as Quercetin Phytosome® at a dosage of 600 mg per day for the first 7 days and 400 mg for the next 7 days.

After 1 week of treatment, 16 out of 21 patients in the quercetin group tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 and 12 patients had all of their symptoms improved. In the group getting only standard care only 2 out of 21 patients tested SARS-CoV-2 negative and 4 patients had their symptoms partially improved.

By 2 weeks, the remaining 5 patients of the quercetin group tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, whereas in the standard group out of 19 remaining patients, 17 tested negative by week 2, one tested negative by week 3 and one patient, still positive, died on day 20.

These results are impressive and hopefully additional studies will be conducted on hospitalized patients to see how quercetin might be helpful in more severe cases.

Quercetin is a member of a group of pigments found in plants known as flavonoids. The excitement with quercetin as an answer to COVID-19 was initially the result of the possibility that quercetin may enhance the antiviral effects of ionic zinc.

The science on quercetin’s anti-coronaviral activity quickly evolved further showing additional specific actions useful against SARS-CoV-2. In particular, quercetin exerts significant inhibition on the binding of specific spike proteins to ACE-2 receptors, thereby blocking the ability of the virus to infect human cells.

Quercetin has also been shown to directly neutralize viral proteins the are critical in the replication of SARS CoV 2. It exerts multiple sites of inhibition of the virus.

In order to reproduce the antiviral effects of quercetin, the dosage of quercetin given must be able to raise the level of quercetin in body tissues so that it can effectively block the virus. And here is where things get tricky. Regular quercetin is not absorbed very well and there is a high degree of variability from one person to the next.

So, we have to look to special forms of quercetin that show enhanced absorption and reduced variability. The studies by Dr. Di Pierro used the Quercetin Phytosome®, however, a study led by Julia Solnier, Ph.D., showed that 500 mg of quercetin as Quercetin LipoMicel Matrix™ produces equal total absorption, but higher peak levels compared to 500 mg of quercetin as Quercetin Phytosome®.

Since both of these forms of quercetin produce similar blood levels, they should produce the same effects at equal dosages based upon quercetin content.

Now, my dosage recommendation as part of a nutritional supplement program to support immune function in the prevention of COVID-19 is Quercetin LipoMicel Matrix™ 250 mg twice daily.

And in patients with active COVID-19, my recommendation is much higher than the successful results from Dr. Di Pierro. Since my battle with COVID, I have been recommending six capsules of Quercetin LipoMicel Matrix™ twice a day providing a total of 3,000 mg of quercetin in this enhanced form.

This high dosage should be taken for at least 10 days and then reduced to a maintenance dosage of 250 mg twice daily.

Based upon Dr. Di Pierro’s results, this high dosage may not be necessary. But my dosage calculations are based upon likely tissue concentrations needed to exert the strongest antiviral effects. And given the safety of quercetin, there is no harm at this level.

If you found this information valuable, here is a quick, friendly reminder. On Thursday, July 29, I’ll be going LIVE on my free Covid-19 webinar #4.  Nick’s comment:  I can’t  vouch to the information that will be in this webinar.  But it may be of interest.

 https://doctormurray.ontraport.com/c/s/0TB/rSrmP/5/6lr/vY9/6grM43/UBBp7Mlfsf/P/P/GW

I’ll cover every important update the media is not sharing with you. I’ll also answer your questions directly, so I invite you to click here to register for free.

If you can’t make it live, register anyway so I can send you the link to replay.

Nick’s Comment:  you can get the mentioned Quercetin products at Emerson Ecologics

Quercetin LipoMicel Matrix and Thorne’s Quercetin Phytosome

https://wellevate.me/nick-soloway  to create an account


Key References:
Di Pierro F, Derosa G, Maffioli P, et al. Possible Therapeutic Effects of Adjuvant Quercetin Supplementation Against Early-Stage COVID-19 Infection: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled, and Open-Label Study. Int J Gen Med. 2021 Jun 8;14:2359-2366.
Di Pierro F, Iqtadar S, Khan A, et al. Potential Clinical Benefits of Quercetin in the Early Stage of COVID-19: Results of a Second, Pilot, Randomized, Controlled and Open-Label Clinical Trial. Int J Gen Med. 2021 Jun 24;14:2807-2816.