11 HEALTH BENEFITS OF ONION - NUTRITION - 2025

The benefits of onions for our body are multiple; improves heart health, prevents cancer, regulates blood sugar, improves digestion, improves the condition of the skin and hair, among many others.

Texas Fitness Institute nutritionist expert Victoria Jarzabklowski states that "onions are very healthy and excellent sources of vitamin C, as well as containing sulfuric compounds, flavonoids and phytochemicals."

These last two compounds are the main causes of the benefits that we can obtain from onions. Since flavonoids together with phytonutrients are found in many vegetables and fruits that react in our body against a large number of diseases.

It should also be noted that the effects of onion are enhanced if eaten raw, as higher levels of organic sulfur compounds are maintained.

Properties of onion for health

Improves the health of our heart

According to a study published in 2002 in the journal Thrombosis Research, the sulfur contained in onions helps us prevent clotting that can occur in our body, and especially in the area from the heart, as well as preventing the formation of unwanted lumps in platelets from cells in the blood

Another study by the Journal of Hypertension also claimed that it reduces the chances of hypertension, and again, thanks to sulfur.

Other different beneficial effects that onion can bring to our body can be summarized as:

• It makes the blood become more diluted, preventing it from clotting
• Decreased triglycerides
• Decreased cholesterol in the blood
• Get our blood pressure to drop
• Helps boost good cholesterol
• Regulate the level of triglycerides

Likewise, it has also been shown that people who combine onion in their diet with different types of vegetables, manage to enhance the set of cardiovascular benefits.

Prevent cancer

It is also known that onion can prevent cancer. The University of Maryland Medical Center said that the high content of quercetin in onions helps to inhibit cancer cells, having a special effect on the breast, colon, prostate, ovary and lung.

So that the probabilities decrease, it is said that an intake of 1-2 times a week is a usability of this food at a moderate level, while eating it 5 or 6 times can be something truly optimal and which is the ideal and recommended by The experts.

The onions that can act in this way in a much more effective way are red and yellow. On the contrary, the white ones are the ones that show the lowest percentage of quercetin, and therefore, the least effective.

Improve digestion

Thanks to one of its compounds called oligofructose, the growth of different beneficial bacteria for the intestine is promoted. Thanks to the action of free radicals, the risk of gastric ulcers is considerably reduced.

Regulate blood sugar

The creation of insulin produced by the intake of onion causes blood sugar to be regulated more effectively and successfully than it would normally be, and all thanks to the sulfur it contains.

According to a study published in 2010 in the well-known journal Environmental Health Insights, people with diabetes 1 or 2 who ate onions showed lower levels of glucose.

Pain relief from bee stings

Try applying a squeezed onion to the affected area. This will decrease the pain considerably.

This benefit has been for years one of the most ancient and ancient uses that can be given to onion, and that is why we could not ignore it either.

Without going any further, the LA Times magazine affirmed under the name of Dr. Eric Block of the State University of New York at Albany that fresh onion cut and applied to our swelling can reduce the inflammation and pain of the bee sting thanks to the different anti-inflammatory qualities it possesses.

It acts as an anti-inflammatory and cures infections

According to the journal of the International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology, onion works as an important anti-inflammatory, especially for the respiratory tract, which helps people who develop asthma to reduce its effects with its intake.

This has also been supported in a study published by the American Journal of Physiology in 2013.

According to dietitian Anne Mauney "the polyphenols in onions act as antioxidants, protecting the body against free radicals."

Onion has been found to possess a type of molecule called Onionin A that is found in a part of the plant's bulb. What it does is inhibit the activity of macrophages. With this, what is achieved is that on many occasions chronic inflammations are kept under control.

Improves the skin and scalp

Thanks to the vitamin C that the onion enjoys, we can enjoy better skin as well as maintaining shinier hair. Vitamin C helps to strengthen collagen levels in our body.

Helps to fall asleep and combat depression

The onion helps to fall asleep due to folate, a compound that helps prevent excess homocysteine, which often causes different depressive disorders.

Likewise, if we had an excess of homocsitein, we would not fall asleep in the same way as we do with regulated and controlled levels.

Better bone density

The current consumption of onion can improve our bone density substantially, especially when it comes to women who are going through menopause.

This happens in such a way that it especially affects the strengthening of the hips of women, reducing the chances of suffering a risk of fracture.

This is proven by the journal Menopause, which in 2009 conducted a study in which the women analyzed reduced their chances of breaking a bone by 20%.

On the other hand, we must point out that this type of food improves the different connective tissues of our bones thanks to its high sulfur component.

Description of the onion and composition

When we speak of the well-known plant we refer to the most cultivated species of the Allium genus. Its other known name is Allium Cepa L., which comes etymologically from the word "cepa" which means onion.

It should be noted that there is a great variety within the aforementioned family, among which we can also find chives, leeks or even garlic.

Regarding the onion, its variants also dictate to be similar in all, since we can find a multitude of flavors, shapes and colors. The most common?

Red, white, or even yellow onion are usually the most common. Its flavors usually dictate between mild, spicy or pungent.

Regarding its formation, it should be noted the amount of nutrients that it enjoys such as vitamins, different antioxidants such as sulfur as well as minerals, among which we find calcium, iron, folate, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium.

History

The history of the onion begins to be written for millennia, specifically during the Bronze Age, since different analyzes ended up concluding that there were different remains of onion next to several carved stones. All this going back to around 5000 BC. C.

Going forward a few more years in time, we came across the Egyptians, who would mix it in their different recipes with leeks and garlic. Interestingly, it is said that the workers who were in the pyramids of Gizeh mainly ate onions during the arduous task of building them.

In addition, they were used in burials. Precisely, it would be in the tomb of Ramses IV where remains of said plant would be found within the sockets of his own eyes.

If we move to classical Greece, athletes ate it so that their blood flowed faster like gladiators when fighting.

It would not be until years later in the Middle Ages when its production became massive until it was treated as one of the most important foods of the time. Such was its fame that it was common to find an onion as a gift and present, or even as a method of exchange.

During modern times, its functions have been gaining more and more fame within the kitchen until today, where it has become an essential ingredient to flavor almost any type of dish.

Recipes

First of all we must say that the onion can be served in different ways and forms. As for the cooking, we can serve it basically from raw to fully cooked.

If we talk about the ways of working with this type of vegetable, it should be noted that they can be served whole or cut. Within this last presentation there are two types that are the most widespread today in the kitchen:

• Roughly speaking: it is mainly based on cutting into a kind of thick pieces.
• Juliana: it begins to be cut into thin slices for quick cooking.

Having clarified this, we are going to show a set of eye-catching recipes that are easy to prepare at home:

Squids with onions

We cut the squid into slices, the onion in julienne strips and we chop garlic. After this, we poach the onion in a frying pan and add the garlic and squid in this order. We add salt, pepper along with the bay leaf and wine. Cook until reduced and finally add the fish stock.

• Ingredients: 1 kg. squid, 1 kg. of onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 glass of fish broth, 1 glass of white wine, 1 bay leaf, olive oil, pepper and salt.

Squab with truffled onion and macaroni

Season the pigeons with a clove of garlic each. We pour two tablespoons of olive oil and heat it in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.

Meanwhile, we cook the macaroni and we are cutting the onion and poaching the onion to add cream with grated truffle. To finish we assemble the plate with the macaroni and its cream and onion with the pigeons in the upper area.

• Ingredients: 2 pigeons, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 onions, 1 nut of butter, 250 milliliters of liquid cream, 1 truffle, 300 gr. of macaroni, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Onion soup with gratin cheese

Cut an onion into julienne strips to poach it and add a vegetable broth together with some aromatic herbs. After this, we add a little brandy and a tablespoon of mustard.

Then we would let it simmer for about 15 minutes. To finish the dish, we sprinkle Gruyére cheese over the top and bake it until au gratin.

Without a doubt, it is one of the easiest recipes, and at the same time the best when it comes to executing it.

• Ingredients: 2 onions, 1 liter of vegetable broth, aromatic herbs, brandy, 1 tablespoon of mustard, Gruyére cheese or, failing that, one to taste, olive oil, pepper and salt.

Cauliflower and onion salad

Cook the cauliflower while peeling some carrots and onion, cutting these two into cubes and julienne accordingly to set them on a plate. We add some peppers, equally cut into cubes, and place the cooked cauliflower. We finish with a dressing of olive oil and salt to taste.

• Ingredients: Half cauliflower, 1 red onion, 2 carrots, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 tomato, olive oil and salt.