To stay healthy, eat an onion a day
11 Feb Fox News
The famous chef Julia Child once remarked ?I cannot imagine a world
without onions.? The use of onions for food goes back at least 3,500
years, and the vegetable is one of the oldest of cultivated plants. But
the onion is more than a kitchen staple.
It is a worldclass superfood that has received very little fanfare,
most likely because of its common position in cookery.
And yet, compared with high-profile foods like pomegranates, red
wine, and green tea, the onion offers superior benefits for both the
prevention and treatment of many common diseases, including various
kinds of cancer, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cataracts and
more. In addition, onions can act as a powerful antibiotic and are
helpful in reducing foodborne illnesses caused by microbial
contamination.
Onions contain extraordinarily powerful compounds that possess many
health benefits. Hundreds of scientific studies published on these
naturally occurring compounds show that they are highly protective to
nerves and the cardiovascular system, and that they enhance immune
function, fight the growth of many types of tumors, help to promote
healthy hormone function, and many more.
Red wine may be the highly touted superstar of heart protection, but
an appraisal of onion suggests that it exceeds the heart-protective
properties of red wine by a generous margin. Could onion in fact be the
real answer to the French Paradox? the fact that a comparatively low
number of French people suffer from coronary heart disease despite diets
that are rich in saturated fats? It makes sense.
After all, almost no French recipe fails to include onion. Onion
lowers cholesterol, inhibits hardening of the arteries, enhances
elasticity of blood vessels, and helps to maintain healthy blood
pressure.
You could easily claim that the onion is the unsung cardiovascular
enhancing hero that has been right under our noses all along. We smell
it, but don?t give it proper respect. Equally impressive are the
hundreds of scientific citations, which pertain to the anti-cancer
properties of onion.
While nobody is suggesting that onion is a cancer cure per se, it
certainly is a valuable adjunct therapy, and it provides almost
unequalled cancer risk reducing properties. Surprisingly, onion
demonstrates significant blood sugar modifying properties to be a real
help in the fight against both type 2 diabetes and obesity. No, onion
alone won?t keep you in fine shape, but it will help.
In addition to limiting your intake of fats and sugars, eating onions
can get your blood sugar-and your weight-on the right track. So here is
a simple, powerful health-enhancing recommendation: Eat an onion every
day. One medium-sized onion equals approximately one cup of onion when
chopped. And while raw onions contain a whopping load of protective
compounds, even cooked onions still weigh in heavily on the protective
side.
Chop onions into salads, cook them with vegetables, fish and meats,
and find as many ways to eat them as possible. Whatever has kept onion
behind the curtains, while lesser fruits and vegetables are lauded,
needs to change. The humble onion, with its tear-promoting pungency, is
without question one of the healthiest things you can put in your body.
Eat onions, and live better.
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