Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Onions Health Benefits

You may know that eating onion is good for health to prevent some illnesses but what are actually onions health benefits? Onions has many health benefits. The onion is usually referred to as “the king of vegetables” due to its taste of pungency, culinary versatility and powerful antiseptic properties. Full of vitamins A, B and C, it’s really strong source of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron. When raw, onion is great digestive stimulant and liver tonic. One of the best onion health benefits is, when you cooked, it can help relieve chronic constipation and flatulence. A tea of boiled onion skins can lessen the unpleasant signs and symptoms of diarrhea.

A close relation of garlic, onion was venerated by the ancient Egyptians as a symbol of vitality and as a cure-all for many illnesses. Ancient records reveal its use in religious rites and healing as early as 4000BC. Its antiseptic qualities have proved effective against infectious diseases such as typhoid, cholera and the plague. As recently as World War II, vapors from onion paste reduced the pain and accelerated the healing of soldiers’ wounds.

Healing drinks containing onions take a wide variety of forms such as infusion, soup, vine, decoction, syrup and juice. You can use any variety of globe onion but not pickling onions. If you like your onions strong and pungent, try the smaller varieties - they are the ones that make your eyes water when you cut them open. Spanish and Italian red onions are milder than most and often sweet but they bring good onion health benefits. The white and yellow varieties lose some of their strength when heated and infuse other foods with a sweet flavor.

Following are some health benefits of onions:

  • Raw onion is incredibly germ killing. It battles contagious bacteria, such as E, salmonella and coli, and is particularly effective against tuberculosis and transmissions from the urinary tract, including cystitis.

  • Onion’s pungency increases blood circulation and causes sweating, beneficial in cold damp weather to defend against infection, reduce fevers, and sweat out colds and flu.

  • Onion juice is excellent for sore throats, pharyngitis, rhinitis, colds, catarrh and sinusitis, breaking up mucous congestion.

  • Onion’s diuretic and blood- cleansing properties can counter fluid retention, urinary gravel, arthritis and gout.

  • Onion’s detoxifying effects relieve tiredness and exhaustion.

  • Another onion health benefits is to reduce cholesterol level, decrease low-density lipoprotein and help to prevent heart attacks. What you can do is to eat half of medium raw onion every day. Both raw and cooked, onions lower blood pressure level, thin the blood, dissolve thrombus and clear the blood of unhealthy fats.
  • 1 comment:

    1. I had flu and had onion tea and to my surprise i felt better and got over the flu. It really works.

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