The onions nutritional value is superb. I think of onions and other alliums like garlic and leeks as superfoods-nutrient dense foods. Thanks to Chef Rachel for the wonderful info.

Have you had your onions today?
Onions have been held in high esteem throughout recorded history and used in nearly every cuisine around the globe.  They are one of the oldest known vegetables, probably among the first cultivated crops, are easy to grow, do well in a wide range of soils and climates, are less perishable than many other vegetables, and have grown wild in many regions of the world.  Food historians estimate that man has been sowing and reaping onions for at least 5000 years and that our ancestors feasted on wild onions for thousands of years before the invention of farming and writing.

Let onions be your medicine
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, noted for saying “Let food be they medicine and medicine be thy food,” considered onions as medicine. Asians have similarly held onions in high esteem. Dr. Henry C. Lu, author of Chinese Foods for Longevity and Chinese System of Food Cures, promotes the health benefits of onions and says that onions have been used in China for at least 5,000 years—to increase urination, expel phlegm, treat coughs, colds, wounds, ulcers, constipation, trichomonas, vaginitis, non-bacterial enteritis, and hypertension.

Wash your mouth out with onion
According to food historian Martin Elkort, author of The Secret Life of Food, an
old wives tale lists onions as an ideal mouthwash!  “Chewing raw onions for five minutes kills all germs in the mouth, making it sterile; a good thing to know next time you get a cold.”

Ode to the onion
What  shall we make of this lore?  Can an onion a day really keep the doctor at bay? Surprisingly, it may.  Modern research supports a surprising array of ancient allium-related health claims.  According to researchers in the United States and India, onions also kill the germs that cause tooth decay.

What’s the secret?
Onions contain at least 25 identified active disease combating compounds that, like garlic, posses antibacterial, antifungal, and immune enhancing properties— which may explain their efficacy in warding off colds, relieving upset stomach, and other gastrointestinal imbalances.  Onions appear to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, inhibit growth of cancer cells, reduce stroke risk, and aid in preventing heart disease.

An onion a day
Many people don’t appreciate the nutritional value of onions. One medium onion contains only 38 calories and as much vitamin C as each of the following: 2 apples, 1 banana, 1 tomato, or 1 orange.  Onions are among one of the 10 most popular vegetables in the U.S.  Prevention Magazine named onions one of the 25 superfoods for combating heart disease and cancer.  So, an onion a day….. is a decent way to increase your odds for a healthy, well-rounded existence.

Onion prowess
The onions most assertive compounds appear to be sulfur and quercetin, antioxidants able to neutralize free radicals in the body, protecting cell membranes from damage.  Onions beat red wine and tea when in quercetin content. (Yellow onions top red onions in the antioxidant race.)  Unlike wine, onion addiction won’t reduce your reflexes or get you arrested, so you can safely indulge—-any time!   (I do, daily!)

Raw or cooked?
Both have benefits.  Cooking softens the bite, sweetens the pot, multiplies your options, concentrates the volume and nutrients, and allows you to eat more onions in a single sitting.  Cooking does reduce sulfur compounds slightly…. though it leaves the quercetin  intact.

If you have a craving for onions now, try Chef Rachel’s Healthy Onion Ring Recipe.

Bio:  Chef Rachel Albert-Matesz has been a natural foods chef, cooking instructor, and freelance food and health writer for more than 20 years. She has led 900+ cooking classes in 5 states and had more than 225 articles published in national and regional publications.

She is the author of The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces (Planetary Press, 2008) and co-author with Don Matesz of the award-winning book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004. She leads group and private classes, cooking parties, healthy shopping tours, coaches clients by phone and in their kitchens, and speaks to groups in the Phoenix metro area. For recipes, cooking tips, and a schedule of classes, visit her blog www.TheHealthyCookingCoach.com

Tags: anti-inflammatory diet, Intelligent Nutrition, nutrient dense foods, paleo diet, superfoods, wellness