At first, I couldn’t even spell it! I first heard about quercetin in this interview with Dr. Mark Gordon, and was intrigued that an over-the-counter supplement might help protect against COVID and even colds and flus. But I was a little skeptical, so I decided to do some digging.

I found this widely cited study which concluded that although we can’t say to a certainty that quercetin can protect us from COVID, there is some good evidence for it, especially if taken with vitamin C. What’s more, the risks seem quite low:

Quercetin displays a broad range of antiviral properties which can interfere at multiple steps of pathogen virulence -virus entry, virus replication, protein assembly- and that these therapeutic effects can be augmented by the co-administration of vitamin C. Furthermore, due to their lack of severe side effects and low-costs, we strongly suggest the combined administration of these two compounds for both the prophylaxis and the early treatment of respiratory tract infections, especially including COVID-19 patients.

The study authors are careful to note that this is an “experimental strategy,” and I found another study that questioned whether using quercetin to protect against COVID is well-founded.

That said, given the reasonable cost, low risk, and emerging evidence of efficacy, I decided to order some here. I’ll take it in conjunction with the vitamin C and vitamin D I already take and hope for the best!

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