Effects of Supplement Quercetin on Soldiering Activities

The performance supplement quercetin gets tested on soldiers to determine if it positively effects infantry type performance.
Supplements are used to improve athletic performance, and soldiers are no exception. The supplement quercetin was used in a recent study to find out how and if it effects soldier performance. The type of activities being measured were aerobically demanding, both on muscles and the heart.
This study took place at the Military Performance Division at USARIEM, and at New Jersey State University, where researchers collaborated to find out the short-term effects of quercetin. This was a double blind study involving 16 male soldiers who then performed 3 days of soldier specific testing in a lab. The subjects were tested under 3 conditions, including at baseline, placebo, or with quercetin.
After baseline, the soldiers ate 2 energy bars, either containing the placebo or quercetin supplement at 500mg each, for 8.5 days. The exercise tests were administered on the 6th day of consumption. The tests were a treadmill VO2max peak test, and two days of loaded treadmill marching for 75 minutes, under the same conditions, followed by a cycling time trial test to reach 200kj of work.
Results showed that there was a significant increase in blood plasma for quercetin after its consumption. However, there was no significant differences between the results of placebo and supplementation. This suggests that short term use of quercetin has no effect on loaded marching performance, time trial performance, or VO2max.
Researchers do suggest that a different training regimen or training qualities may benefit from quercetin supplementation, or that a different dose and duration of supplementation may be required to see it have an effect on performance. More research is required to fully examine the effects of this supplement on physical performance .
Source
Sharp, MA, Hendrickson, NR, Staab, JS, McClung, HL, Nindl, BC, Michniak-kohn, BB. 2012. “Effects of short-term quercetin supplementation on soldier performance”. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 26(7): S53-S60.