Not too long ago, I received a query on the “Fat Loss Revealed” forum about quercetin. 

Article in 9/09 Men’s Journal suggests “Quercetin is the best energy supplement ever–research is now suggesting it works so well, it’s certain to get banned”.

Uh-huh.  I was politely skeptical, since - despite certain advertising claims - the existing research on quercetin and exercise just isn’t that stellar… for example, quercetin ingestion by athletes,

On the flip side, there’s some positive animal data, along with a study on untrained individuals, but truth is, the picture isn’t nearly as glowing as the ads (and magazine “advertorials”) would have us believe.

And now there’s this:

Athens, Ga. – The antioxidant quercetin is increasingly being marketed as a supplement that boosts athletic performance, but a new University of Georgia study finds that it is no better than a placebo.

 Professor Kirk Cureton, head of the department of kinesiology in the UGA College of Education, and his colleagues tested quercetin in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that assessed a variety of measures, including the ability of muscles to synthesize energy, cycling performance, perceived exertion and strength loss following exercise. The researchers, whose results appear in the early online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that quercetin did not improve athletic performance in any of the measures they examined.

 “We did not see any performance enhancing effect of quercetin,” Cureton said. “To a certain extent that was disappointing because our hypothesis, based on previous studies in mice, was that we would see positive effects. But our findings are important because they suggest that results from the animal studies shouldn’t be generalized to humans.”

…An early and widely-cited study reported improvements in performance during a cycling time trial, but Cureton notes that data from the experimental group was not compared to the control group, making the statistical significance of the finding unclear. Published studies on competitive runners and cyclists have found no improvement in performance. A recent published study by the same researchers who reported mitochondrial and endurance increases in mice, however, found that volunteers who consumed a drink containing quercetin saw a 13 percent improvement in endurance. Cureton said the reason for the conflicting results is unknown, but added that several other studies currently in review for publication also have found no performance-enhancing effect.

Emphasis mine.  As things stand right now, it’s not looking so good for quercetin – at least as a performance-enhancer (general health/wellness may be another matter).

What’s the take-home lesson?  Often, products are rushed onto the market on the basis of preliminary research – and it can be tempting to jump on the bandwagon to avoid missing out on a good thing.  But taking a more cautious, “let’s wait and see” approach can save you some money.  The way I see it, good products aren’t going to go anywhere, and I won’t be wasting my dollars on the ones that don’t hold up.

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