Quercetin: Remedy for Allergies
and Hay Fever

A flavonoid found in red wine, onions and red grapes, quercetin puts the brakes on allergy symptoms by inhibiting the body’s release of histamines.

When in comes to squelching a runny nose and watery eyes, a Japanese study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found quercetin to be nearly twice as effective as a popular prescription antihistamine.

Take 250mg of quercetin three times a day on its own — or you can pair in with 1000mg of vitamin C, another anti-inflammatory, to create a more potent natural antihistamine.

Foods rich in quercetin include capers (1800 mg/kg), lovage (1700 mg/kg), apples (44 mg/kg), tea (Camellia sinensis), onion, especially red onion (higher concentrations of quercetin occur in the outermost rings), red grapes, citrus fruit, tomato, broccoli and other leafy green vegetables, and a number of berries including cherry, raspberry, cranberry, and the fruit of the prickly pear cactus.

A recent study found that organically grown tomatoes had 79% more quercetin than “conventionally grown”.