Hello, and a warm welcome back to my Friday 5, the topical weekly look at the world of

well-being.

Now, I don't know about you, but much as I love Springtime, there is something big about

it.

I do not like, and that is the tree pollen.

Do you know, for years I have been absolutely plagued by terrible hay fever so much that I've

had to use steroid nasal sprays, prescription eye drops, countless high strength antihistamines.

Well, all that changed for me last year when I interviewed various functional medicine

doctors and nutritionists right here, or might as well well-being show podcast, and I got

to hear about something called quercetin.

Now this is a natural food supplement, it's actually a reddish-colored plant pigment found

in food such as red onions, red skinned apples, red wine and green tea, to name it a few.

And it's implicated in dampening down the histamine reaction.

Now I actually started to get interested in this after a discussion with the brilliant consultant

Dr. Tina Pears, who uses quercetin as part of the mast cell activation syndrome protocol

or MCAS, as it's known, something my eldest daughter Lily follows for her autoimmune

and chronic pain issues.

Well, I started taking quercetin, not expecting much from a basic food supplement, if I'm honest.

After all, I've had around a decade of annual high strength medication from my doctor for

my hay fever.

Anyway, learn behold, I started taking quercetin daily and I waited, and I waited, and I waited

for my hay fever symptoms to start and blow me down if they didn't.

...