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In addition to helping tame the allergy response, quercetin has anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer properties, and it provides mitochondrial protection, says Gregory Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP. Its protective and therapeutic potential keeps researchers busy investigating its ability to support a range of health conditions.

• Brain health: Several ­studies have identified quercetin’s neuro­protective benefits. As an antioxidant, it may mitigate age-related ­degenerative processes, for example, and its anti-inflammatory properties may protect against the progression of inflammation-mediated neuro­degenerative disorders.
• Heart health: Along with other flavonoids, such as resveratrol and catechins, quercetin may help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, the plaque accumulation in arteries that can lead to heart attack and stroke. It may also prevent damage from LDL cholesterol and reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension.
• Cancer: In lab studies, quercetin has inhibited many types of cancer cells. Plotnikoff cautions, however: “In some types of cancers, quercetin enhances the activity of chemotherapy, and in others it actually blocks the effectiveness of chemotherapy.”
• COVID-19: The Institute for Functional Medicine notes that “quercetin has been shown to have antiviral effects against both RNA viruses (e.g., influenza and coronavirus) and DNA viruses (e.g., herpes).” Although clinical evidence is limited, says Plotnikoff, “for some people, quercetin has been helpful for both acute and long COVID.”

This was excerpted from “Can Quercetin Relieve Your Season Allergies?” which was published in Experience Life magazine.

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A variety of indicators may reveal ongoing inflammation in the body. Some of the most common include weight-loss resistance, anxiety and depression, brain fog, fatigue, gut dysfunction, joint pain, and headaches.

The signs won’t be the same in every person, however. “Inflammation can manifest in multiple areas of the body, but since every person’s biochemistry is different, symptoms of inflammation can vary between individuals,” says functional-medicine practitioner Will Cole, IFMCP, DNM, DC, ­author of The Inflammation Spectrum.

Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and lupus are what Shilpa Ravella, MD, assistant professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and author of A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease calls “overtly inflamed” disorders — inflammation-based conditions that can be clearly diagnosed based on tests.

Chronic inflammation can also be hidden, or silent. In such instances, someone may have one or more of the symptoms listed above, or they might feel perfectly well.

Certain tests can gauge general inflammation levels in the body. Tests for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) measure levels of this inflammatory protein in the blood; there are also tests to measure interleukin 6 (IL-6), another pro-inflammatory protein. Both CRP and IL-6 have been linked to overtly inflammatory conditions.

Cole also looks at levels of homo­cysteine, an inflammatory amino acid linked to heart disease, destruction of the blood–brain barrier, and dementia. This marker is commonly elevated in people diagnosed with autoimmune conditions.

High levels of ferritin, an iron-containing blood protein that’s normally measured to help diagnose anemia, can also be a sign of inflammation.

The usefulness of these tests, however, can be limited. “These markers aren’t always specific — you can generate the same proteins if you have a cold or a cut,” Ravella says.

Scientists hope to eventually locate other markers that better indicate whether a body is silently inflamed — as well as reveal the cause.

Still, currently available tests can point toward important avenues of investigation, notes naturopathic doctor Cassie Wilder, NMD, founder of the Minneapolis Integrative Medicine Center. “If you suspect inflammation is coming from the gut, for instance, you could run stool testing or food-allergy testing that might lead you down a ­specific path.”

This was excerpted from “How Chronic Inflammation Affects Your Health” which was published in the March 2023 issue of Experience Life.

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Folk wisdom has long stated that exercise will reduce your chances of getting sick. But is that true? Two recent reports say, decidedly, yes.

A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 studies in the BMJ included more than 1.8 million people around the globe. Researchers found that those who stayed physically active had a lower risk of severe illness from COVID-19 compared with people who were not active.

And a 2021 systematic review of 55 studies in Sports Medicine revealed that regular physical exercise boosted the immune system’s ability to fight off “community-acquired infectious disease” in general.

These are some of the key findings.

1. 31 % Percentage lower risk of contracting “community-acquired infectious disease” — including respiratory-tract infections, such as colds and pneumonia — among those who were habitually physically active. Sports Medicine also reported a 37 percent risk reduction in overall infectious-disease mortality.
2. 150 Minimum number of minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week that was found to be of benefit, according to the BMJ. Seventy-five minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise produced similar results.
3. “Regular, moderate to vigorous physical activity is associated with reduced risk of community-acquired infectious diseases and infectious-disease mortality; enhances the first line of defense of the immune system; and increases the potency of vaccination.”

— Authors of the Sports Medicine meta-analysis

This article originally appeared as “The Role of Exercise in Strengthening Your Immune System” in the March 2023 issue of Experience Life.

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We can handle only so much drama and trepidation, so I’m not surprised to discover that, nearly three years into the current pandemic, U.S. seniors seem to have largely stopped worrying about COVID, casting their collective fate to the wind.

It’s difficult to draw any other conclusion from recent reports revealing the woeful response among my contemporaries to the latest round of COVID boosters. About seven in 10 seniors rolled up their sleeves for the first booster, fewer than half have been jabbed with the second, and they’ve essentially ignored the updated bivalent booster — only about one in 10 have received the latest shot.

“Most older people were vaccinated; they weren’t hesitant or opposed,” Anne Sosin, MPH, a public-health researcher at the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, tells the New York Times. As each additional booster came along, however, seniors have mostly demurred. “They’re not very motivated and they haven’t been given a reason to be,” she adds. “There’s more of a sense of ‘Why bother?’”

It’s not just that many of us have become inured to the threat; it has also receded at the public-health level, creating a lack of urgency. “The messaging on boosters has been very muddled,” Sosin argues. And that has exacerbated the generally laissez-faire attitude many seniors have adopted toward the virus, producing what could be a dangerous environment as we move into and through the holiday season. “Older people are entering the winter with less protection than at earlier points in the pandemic,” she notes.

I rolled up my sleeve for the third booster last week, a move that I hope will continue to ward off the virus into the foreseeable future. But I’ve been struck in recent days by reports from public-health experts — as well as stories from neighbors, friends, and colleagues — that suggest even multiple doses of the vaccine do not guarantee immunity against the ever-evolving bug.

You may have seen the news story last week reporting that the pandemic is now killing more vaccinated than unvaccinated Americans. “Fifty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in August were people who were vaccinated or boosted,” McKenzie Beard wrote in the Washington Post. “In September 2021, vaccinated people made up just 23 percent of the coronavirus fatalities,”

And, if we didn’t immediately get the message, Beard laid it out in simpler terms: “It’s no longer a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

The story went on to encourage people to get their shots, but you needed to dig down to the eighth paragraph before you’d find an explanation for the troubling shift: “At this point in the pandemic, a large majority of Americans have received at least their primary series of coronavirus vaccines, so it makes sense that vaccinated people are making up a greater share of fatalities.”

And further down: “Unvaccinated people 50 and up had 12 times the risk of dying from COVID-19 than adults the same age with two or more booster doses.”

When I noticed My Lovely Wife scanning the story in our local newspaper, I found myself fumbling for the obvious explanation. I can only imagine how the headline — “Vaccinated people now make up a majority of COVID deaths” — played among our cohort who haven’t yet decided whether the booster is worth the trouble.

I suspect those of us seniors who have kept up with our vaccinations understand we’re far less likely than our unvaxed contemporaries to land in the ER or the local mortuary as a result of contracting the virus, but we’re still getting sick. The septuagenarian couple next door, who had managed to avoid the bug since the plague first struck, came down with a nasty case earlier this month. Cases among friends and colleagues have also become almost commonplace in recent weeks. The fact that all these people were vaccinated and boosted tends to challenge the notion that vaccines alone will allow us to dodge each succeeding version of the virus.

The threat COVID presents is “reduced, but it’s not gone,” William Schaffner, MD, a Vanderbilt University infectious-disease specialist, tells the Times. “You can’t forget it. You can’t put it in the rearview mirror.”

It seems a bit paranoiac to even consider returning to some version of the shelter-in-place mindset that dominated the early days of the pandemic, but I can’t help thinking some caution is warranted. It’s simply naive to assume COVID is in retreat. The most recent variant currently making the rounds, BQ.1.1, is about 175 times more resistant than the original virus to the body’s immune defenses.

And while that knowledge has not yet convinced MLW and me to avoid our favorite coffee shop (the tables are well spaced, we tell ourselves) or seriously reconsider our options for dining out, we remain skeptical of large gatherings and generally find ourselves more circumspect today than we were a few months ago.

COVID may have been in our rearview mirror, but we’re beginning to understand that it’s closer than it may appear. Here’s hoping our contemporaries are paying more attention as well.

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COVID-19 has turned the spotlight on the topic of immunity in recent years, yet even as the pandemic wanes we still need to support our immune system so it can fight off viruses, bacteria, and other potentially compromising invaders.

There are lifestyle habits within our control that can build our immunity, explains Paul Kriegler, RD, CPT, director of nutritional products at Life Time, in a Life Time Talks podcast. “Being healthy at a metabolic and system level matters a lot with regard to whatever pathogen we encounter,” he notes. “The choices we make from meal to meal and day to day have the biggest impact on our ability to be resilient. I think it’s empowering to tell people that message.”

Kriegler recommends these daily lifestyle habits that offer essential immune-system support:

1. Eat a high-quality, nutrient-dense diet.

“Diet quality is a major controllable factor we should all be paying attention to,” says Kriegler. He recommends eating a protein-rich diet and consuming about a head-size portion of produce (or five cups or more) every day. He also stresses the importance of staying well hydrated.

2. Go out in nature.

In addition to providing the immune-supportive benefits of vitamin D, natural sunlight helps regulate our circadian rhythms, as well as other physiological processes and systems.

3. Get adequate sleep.

At least seven hours per night tends to produce the best immune resilience.

4. Manage your stressors.

Stress is healthy in short bursts but not at the constant levels modern life tends to cause. Include intentional stress-management techniques in your routine to promote relaxation.

5. Move your body.

“Our bodies do upregulate certain immune processes and abilities when we place little calculated amounts of stress, like exercise, on it and then allow it to recover,” says Kriegler. Along with regular exercise, he also emphasizes consistent daily movement.

Boost Your Immunity

For further advice on strengthening immunity, listen to the Life Time Talks podcast with Paul Kriegler at “Everyday Habits for Building Immunity“.

This article originally appeared as “Everyday Habits For Building Immunity” in the November 2022 issue of Experience Life.

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In May of 2020, my mother handed me a book that changed my life. At the time, I was 25 years old and fighting three autoimmune diseases. I’d endured radiation and steroid treatments during the previous few months, and I was suffering from awful side effects. The eye pain and mood swings were just as bad as the symptoms the drugs and radiation were supposed to improve.

After reading the book jacket of The Autoimmune Solution by Amy Myers, MD, though, I felt optimistic. Myers, who was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, says your fork is your best weapon against a body whose immune system attacks itself. (See “How to Boost Your Thyroid” for Myers’s 28-day plan to bring your thyroid back in balance.)

Intrigued by her belief in food as medicine, I read the book from cover to cover, implementing Myers’s suggestions as I turned the pages.

Over the next month, I began prioritizing whole foods and high-quality protein. I eliminated processed foods, dairy, and gluten. I also avoided nightshades — such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant — which can be problematic for people with autoimmune conditions. All of this meant I had to eat out less often and put more effort into meal prepping.

When my symptoms had improved significantly by the end of the 30-day reset outlined in Myers’s book, I felt the truth of her claim. For the first time since my diagnoses, I had hope that I could approach remission and a pain-free life.

From Bad to Worse

I first noticed something was wrong in February of 2020, as I was preparing to leave for a humanitarian internship in Israel through my alma mater, Highlands College. Shortly before my trip, my Apple watch kept telling me I had an abnormally high resting heart rate. I decided I should get that checked out before leaving for a year, since I was also experiencing hot flashes, twitchy muscles, and insomnia.

My family-practice doctor ran numerous tests that came back inconclusive, so I went to see a cardiologist. After a lot of bloodwork and monitoring, we still didn’t know anything. My doctors strongly advised staying home until we figured out what was wrong with me, so I did.

I’d never experienced serious health issues before, so this was new territory. Growing up, I’d been active in sports: cross-country running, track, basketball, softball. Because I was so active, I didn’t think much about what I was eating or the effects food had on my body — I never felt like I needed to. I ate what was convenient, including a lot of fast food.

As my symptoms continued in March 2020, I bounced around to specialists until my endocrinologist eventually diagnosed Graves’ disease. My thyroid-hormone levels — which control metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature — were off the chart. (For more on the importance of your thyroid, see “What You Need to Know About Your Thyroid“.)

My choices were to undergo surgery to remove my thyroid or radiation to destroy it. Regardless of the choice, my endocrinologist said, I would be taking medication for the rest of my life.

Radiation therapy seemed less invasive, so in April 2020 I began that treatment, which included a thyroid ablation, followed by an oral radiation regimen. Shortly after, my eyes swelled as though I were having a bad allergic reaction. I also developed proptosis: My eyes bulged out of my head, causing intense pressure, pain, redness, and dryness. These symptoms were worse than anything I’d experienced before.

The radiation had triggered what my ophthalmologist diagnosed as thyroid eye disease. I hadn’t even known that was a possibility, and I felt wronged at not having been given this information before I made my decision. But just when I was feeling hopeless, my mom gave me that life-changing book.

A More Functional Approach

By June 2020, after I’d radically changed my diet, most of my symptoms had calmed down. In August, I transferred from my job as a Life Time concierge in Houston to a club in St. Louis.

Once I’d settled in, however, I started looking for a functional-medicine physician, because I had begun to experience symptoms again: sleeplessness, migraines, hot flashes, and even hair loss. After more bloodwork, my new doctor identified antibodies for Hashimoto’s disease, too. Often, a person diagnosed with one autoimmune disease is more likely to develop others, in part because the immune system is already inflamed and easily triggered.

My doctor helped me build on the work I was already doing to address my diseases in a more holistic way. For me, it was beneficial to focus on the root causes of my illnesses and consider lifestyle changes along with medication.

At this point, I learned that managing autoimmune diseases also involves better sleep hygiene and reducing stress. Thinking about the months since I’d first been ­diagnosed, I realized I’d been feeling a lot of anxiety. There was all the testing and the treatments. And there was COVID-19: ­Suddenly my job included doing temperature checks, asking health-­screening questions, and monitoring mask mandates.

To relieve some of this new stress, I began taking on-demand yoga classes. I also started hiking, which was something I had always wanted to do. Getting into nature was as good for me as the exercise — I could feel my anxiety dissipate with every step.

And it was like a chain reaction: By moving more and reducing my stress, I ­improved my sleep. All of these things helped me manage my autoimmune diseases.

Relapse and Remission

Despite these changes, bloodwork results in October 2020 showed that my thyroid levels had risen again. My endocrinologist said she’d never seen that before: Without a functioning thyroid, she explained, thyroid hormone levels don’t rise beyond a normal threshold, even with medication intended to raise them. She suggested I stop taking the medication, because my body was regulating my thyroid hormones on its own. The medication was making them skyrocket.

That’s when I realized that many of my setbacks had been caused not by my diseases but by the treatment. I stopped taking all medication in November 2020, and I’ve been in remission from Graves’ and Hashimoto’s ever since.

Today, the three pillars supporting my health are nutrition, activity, and supplements. Thanks to maintaining this strong foundation, I also entered remission from thyroid eye disease in May 2021.

My functional-medicine doctor believes that my dietary changes have been a critical factor in these positive results and have kept me from developing any additional autoimmune issues. I see her every so often for routine bloodwork, and I visit my ophthalmologist once a year. I’ve been really fortunate to see such dramatic improvement, and I don’t take my health for granted.

Healthwise, I feel like I do after a hike, when I get to look out at a view and feel the reward of all my effort. I plan on beginning a 10-month certification in functional nutrition, and someday I’d like to help people with autoimmune diseases by creating personalized nutrition and lifestyle plans. Even though everyone might not see the same improvements I did, I do believe in the healing power of food and that good nutrition can help everyone over the long term.

Demi’s Top 3 Success Strategies

1. Be your own health advocate. Ask questions, seek out different perspectives, and be willing to try a variety of techniques and strategies to find what works best for your body.
2. Listen to your body. No one knows it better than you do. What works for someone else might not work for you (and vice versa).
3. Remember your end goal. Lifestyle changes aren’t easy. Stay motivated by surrounding yourself with supportive friends and family.

Tell Us Your Story! Have a transformational healthy-living tale of your own? Share it with us!

This article originally appeared as “Food as Medicine” in the July/August 2022 issue of Experience Life.

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