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Posted by on Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:02 pm

Quercetin query: Researcher sees promise in plant pigment

Chia-Chi Chuang may have found one reason grapes are good for us: quercetin.
Chuang, a PhD candidate in the Department of Nutrition, isolated quercetin, a light-yellow pigment found in grapes and other fruits and vegetables like apples and onions. She says quercetin reduces cellular inflammation commonly found in overweight people with Type 2 diabetes.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published Chuang’s findings in December. Her study compared the effectiveness of quercetin to another plant compound, resveratrol, which has been the subject of much interest to nutrition scientists. She found quercetin to be as effective, if not more effective, than resveratrol in preventing inflammation associated with obesity and insulin resistance.

Chuang’s initial study was done with fat cells isolated from human tissue. She is currently studying the effects of quercetin and resveratrol on live mice consuming a high-fat diet.
The initial questions about grapes and resveratrol arose as scientists pondered the “French Paradox” – why do the French, who eat a rich, high-fat diet, tend to have healthier hearts than people in many other countries? So grape products like red wine, which the French consume more often than Americans, came under scrutiny. “Scientists started asking, why grapes?” Chuang says.

She and her mentor, Dr. Michael McIntosh, a UNCG nutrition professor, are now summing up the last 10-15 years of studies on grapes and their role in preventing inflammation and disease for the 2011 Annual Reviews of Nutrition.

Her goal is to find the most effective combinations of foods and natural supplements to improve health and combat serious illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. And though it has not yet been fully tested in humans, quercetin holds promise for reducing obesity-related chronic inflammation and diabetes.

Chuang, born in Taiwan, is the first in her family to attend college. She holds a BS in medical technology from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan and an MS in toxicology from National Taiwan University.

Chuang plans to graduate from UNCG in May 2012. She wants to stay in North Carolina, and continue her research with a focus on cardiovascular disease.

“Each time I answer a question, I get several more questions that I need to answer,” Chuang says. “I love learning new things and answering questions.”

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