VIOR Life by Ryan Brady | Mar 31, 2020
The recent announcement by President Trump about a drug with “tremendous promise” in combating COVID-19 sent people hunting through pharmacies and physicians. Trump was referencing hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial medication first synthesized in 1946 that has also proved useful treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, often in combination with other drugs. Hydroxychloroquine is classified as a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and is a safer, more potent derivative of chloroquine (4,12).
Zinc IonophoreChloroquine is also a zinc ionophore (10). An ionophore chauffeurs zinc in and out of the cell. Zinc is known to inhibit viral RNA polymerase (13). It essentially limits the ability of the virus to replicate itself and overwhelm the cell. Zinc is not a novel substance that only comes into play with COVID-19, but rather an essential mineral integral to cellular processes throughout the body. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states:
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Natural Alternatives to Hydroxychloroquine
If hydroxychloroquine / chloroquine in vitro could stop the virus, was this because the medications act as zinc ionophores? If so, its begs the question, “Do other zinc ionophores do the same thing?”
QuercetinDietary Sources
Quercetins are naturally occurring flavonoids. These flavonoids are found in a variety of foods, including vegetables such as onions, garlic, brassica, mustard greens, and ginger; fruit such as apples, berries, and grapes; and many seeds, nuts, flowers bark and tea leaves (17). I have personally been using quercetin for years with my patients in my functional medicine program that suffer from allergies, mitochondrial disease and for cardioprotective reasons (15,16,17,18).
Quercetin as a Zinc IonophoreQuercetin is a zinc ionophore (13). A 2015 study found that that Quercetin shows inhibitory activity in the early stages of a wide range of influenza viruses, including H1N1 and H5N1 (14). Although influenza is not in the same family of viruses as the coronavirus, it’s plausible that a similar mechanism could apply here. There is actually some evidence that Quercetin has already proven effective at treating Ebola and Zika viruses.
Epigallocatechin 3-Gallate (EGCG)EGCG is a catechin found primarily in green tea and touted as the most effective chemopreventive polyphenol (19). A recent study found EGCG amplified the effectiveness of Quercetin as a zinc ionophore (13). This suggests that ECGC and Quercetin provide a synergistic effect with enhanced bioavailability.
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https://viorlife.com/the-natural-alternative-to-hydroxychloroquine/
