Quercetin protects you from obesity-related muscle atrophy

Researchers from the University of Ulsan in South Korea have identified the flavonoid quercetin to be effective against muscle atrophy caused by obesity. Their study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, investigated whether quercetin was effective on skeletal muscle atrophy in mice treated with tumor necrosis factor alpha.

• TNFa is a cytokine that promotes inflammation. Obese individuals tend to have increased amounts of TNFa, which can degrade protein and cause obesity-related muscle atrophy and age-related sarcopenia.
• Earlier studies have identified the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of quercetin.
• For this study, researchers noted that quercetin affected the TNFa-related biomarkers for atrophy, which included MAFbx/atrogin-1 and MuRF1 in myotubes.
• In addition, it increased heme oxygenase-1 protein levels, which improved the ability of quercetin to suppress atrophic responses caused by TNFa, as well as the prevent the degradation of IkB-a in myotubes. It also improved the nuclear translocation of nuclear translocation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 in myotubes.
• The quercetin supplement also hindered obesity-related atrophic responses in skeletal muscle. However, this effect was weakened in rats that had a deficit of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2.

The findings revealed the quercetin can prevent TNFa-induced muscle atrophy prevalent in obese individuals.

Learn more about the other benefits of quercetin at Nutrients.news.

Journal Reference:

Kim Y, Kim CS, Joe Y, Chung HT, Ha TY, Yu R. QUERCETIN REDUCES TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA-INDUCED MUSCLE ATROPHY BY UPREGULATION OF HEME OXYGENASE-1. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2018;21(6):551–559. DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2017.4108