Quercetin plus adrenalin squeezes fat cells dry
Supplements containing quercetin [structural formula shown below] may well increase fat burning during training, especially when combined with good old caffeine [structural formula shown below]. A test tube study carried out at the National University of Singapore as long ago as 1994 suggests this. According to the research, quercetin enhances the effect of adrenalin-like compounds on fat cells.
The researchers did experiments on fat cells from rats, adding adrenalin and quercetin to the cells in test tubes. Then they watched whether this caused the fat cells to release their contents into the bloodstream. Their main interest was to learn more about the effect of quercetin on the PDE enzyme, or phosphodiesterase. This is the enzyme that is blocked by caffeine. If you block PDE then fat cells dump the fatty acids they have stored into the bloodstream. The name for this is lipolysis. When this happens, the body is able to burn the fatty acids.
Well - quercetin doesn’t work like this. The figure below shows that quercetin, alone or in combination with adrenalin, actually increases the activity of that enzyme. But the figure also shows that quercetin does the same with cAMP, a second messenger. CAMP tells the cell that compounds have attached themselves to receptors and that the cell needs to step up its metabolism. Substances that increase the cAMP concentration have a slimming effect.
The researchers also tested fisetin. This flavonoid had the same effect as quercetin.
But the net effect, however, was that the fat cells released fatty acids. Lipolysis as a result of adrenalin increases if the fat cells are exposed to more quercetin, according to the figure below. The curves with the transparent symbols represent lipolysis when the fat cells are submerged in a solution containing only quercetin [squares] or fisetin [triangles]. The curves with the black symbols represent lipolysis when the fluid also contains isoproterenol, an adrenalin analogue. Quercetin seems to improve the performance of the receptor that adrenalin attaches itself to.
The researchers used quercetin with no sugar groups attached in their experiment. When you consume quercetin the digestive system makes sure that sugar molecules get attached to it really fast. The researchers published an article earlier in which they report that a sugared version of quercetin works less well. [Biochem Pharmacol. 1992 Oct 6;44(7):1307-15.] According to recent research, the cells are capable of removing the sugar molecules again, but scientists don’t know to what extent.
Taking caffeine before training increases the amount of fat you burn. So would a hefty dose of quercetin boost this even further? If you know how quercetin works, it’s not such an unlikely idea.
By the way, quercetin is becoming more and more interesting. See the posting on an animal study in which quercetin boosted metabolism, and another posting on a Japanese rat study in which quercetin inhibits the production of cortisol.
