Anti-Inflammatory Supplements

Anti-inflammatory supplements are something I recently learned more about. While listening to podcasts and webinars of Functional Medicine, I understood what they advise their patients to take, based on the studies they reviewed. Some well-known physicians in this field state that they take a few of them too.

Specific anti-inflammatory supplements, along with proper, nutrient-dense diet can be helpful in building up our immunity. All these measures not only can make us less vulnerable to infections, but can help us mount a proper immune response after the currently available vaccinations.

The anti-inflammatory supplements can seemingly help in certain chronic conditions as well. I correlate the Functional Medicine approach with other medical research and when many concepts overlap, I play closer attention and consider to implement some measures. A few supplements I already discussed in separate posts, but there are some I’ll mention here.

Quercetin is a polyphenol found in many vegetables (onions being the richest), and fruits (apples, cherries, red grapes), and is responsible for the intense colors of many of these. Capers have a lot of it. I recently learned that the small capers I buy, the richest in quercetin, are actually the buds from the caper flower, while the bigger-sized caper berries fruits have significantly less.

Pickeld capers have more than salty or fresh ones because the pickling process another flavonoid (rutin—also found in buckwheat), turns into quercetin. Leafy greens have also quite a bit, as they have just about every healthy flavonoid and minerals we need.

Quercetin capsule supplements are available and often combined with vitamin C, bromelain, hesperidin—a flavonoid from citrus or citrus fruit extracts. All these can make the quercetin get absorbed better. It is helpful in allergies, viral infections, frequent sinus infections, and arthritis.

There are reports that doses of Quercetin supplements of more than 1000 mg a day can cause kidney damage. In some animal models, very high doses of Quercetin along with estrogens promoted breast tumors. In all the supplements, I believe moderation is key, both as dosage and duration. I’m taking only a single dose of 500 mg daily (Blue Bonnet brand), which has additional, small amounts of bromelain and hesperidin.

Bromelain, extracted from pineapple, beside being a digestive aid, has anti-inflamatory properties, thus helpful in arthritis, colitis, burns but also in allergies, asthma, and sinus infections. Just like many supplements, it can trigger allergic reactions as well as interact with many medications (blood thinners, anti-platelets agents, sedatives, antidepressants).

Hesperidin, naturally found in many citrus fruits, has anti-inflammatory properties and could be helpful in improving circulation. It can affect bleeding though, and I’ve seen recommendations to be avoided around surgery. Like bromelian, it can interfere with a few medications.

That’s why whenever I talk about supplements, I strongly reinforce that none of them to be started without asking your professionals first. I’ve always been wary about not overdoing it with supplements, whatever the great benefits of the natural substances we’re trying to make-up for. Moreover, beside the active ingredients from supplements— that we hope to help specific symptoms, there are so many others that may hurt us.

Incorporating good amounts of anti-inflammatory substances in the diet, even if the amounts we can extract just from foods many not be necessarily enough, it’s a good strategy. I’m already doing this, because it’s the natural thing to do. Their benefits may be due to other substances (micro and macronutrients), normally present in foods, therefore it makes more sense to rely on the natural sources as much as possible.

I, for one, knowing something it’s healthy, I find ways to enjoy it. For instance, I was never a big fan of green tea, but a touch of honey, a lemon slice and a few mint leaves make it truly enjoyable for me. I have other examples, but I don’t want to bore you with them.

Besides the anti-inflammatory supplements I discussed above, mushroom extracts, green tea extracts, turmeric—all these may have anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric is the only one I tried a few years ago; took it for less than a week because it gave me so much bloating that I had to stop. Since I’m not going to use any of these extracts for the time being, I didn’t research them.

As I previously said, I’m planning to take some supplements for a limited period of time and see if I notice any benefits. If I don’t, I’ll stop them altogether. If I do see benefits, afterwards I’think I’ll likely use them intermittently (maybe 2-3 days a week), while relying even more just on nutritious foods.

BEFORE ASSESING THE BENEFITS OF SUPPLEMENTS, ELIMINATE OTHER TOXINS SOURROUNDING US!