Quercetin and Its Metabolites in Heart Health

Cardiovascular disease is a broad term used to describe a range of diseases that affect heart and blood vessels. While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system such as infection, inflammation, vascular relaxation, platelet aggregation, hypertension, and cardiac hypertrophy, however, in developed countries, the main underlying problem is atherosclerosis. The major preventable risk factors for cardiovascular disease are tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, insufficient physical activity, overweight and obesity, poor nutrition, and diabetes. Most cardiovascular diseases reflect chronic conditions that develop or persist over a long period of time. However, sometimes, the outcome of cardiovascular disease could be acute events such as heart attacks that occur suddenly when a vessel supplying blood to the heart becomes blocked. Many studies have investigated the role of quercetin in preventing cardiovascular disease, and interestingly, it has been shown that quercetin has multiple effects in counteracting the different diseases that affect heart and blood vessels.