The Benefits of onions For our organism are multiple. Texas Dietetic Nutritionist Victoria Jarzabklowski, an expert nutritionist, states that"onions are very healthy and excellent sources of vitamin C , As well as containing sulfur compounds, flavonoids and phytochemicals".
These last two compounds are the major causes of the benefits that can be obtained from onions. Since the flavonoids next to the phytonutrients are in amount of vegetables and fruits that react in our body against a great number of diseases.
It should also be noted that the effects of onion are enhanced if they are eaten raw, as they maintain higher levels of organic sulfur compounds.
1- Improves the health of our heart
According to a study published in 2002 in the journal Thrombosis Research, the sulfur containing onions help us prevent clotting that can occur in our body, especially in the area from the heart and prevent the formation of unwanted lumps in The platelets of the cells in the blood
Another study by the Journal of Hypertension also stated that it reduces the chances of suffering hypertension , And again, thanks to the sulfur.
Other different beneficial effects that can contribute the onion to our organism can be summarized in:
- It makes the blood become more dilute, preventing its clotting
- Decreased triglycerides
- Decreased cholesterol in the blood
- Get our blood pressure down
- Helps to promote 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 cardiovascular benefits.
2 - Prevents cancer
It is also known that onions can prevent cancer. The University of Maryland Medical Center said that the high content of Quercetin In onions helps to inhibit cancerous cells, having special effect on the breast, colon, prostate, ovary and lung.
For the odds to 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 on 5 or 6 occasions can be treated as truly optimal and which is ideal and advised by The experts.
Onions that can act in this way in a much more effective way are red and yellow. In contrast, white is the least percentage of quercetin, and therefore the least effective.
4- Improve digestion
Thanks to one of its compounds called oligofructose, the growth of different beneficial bacteria for the intestine is encouraged. Thanks to the action of free radicals, the risk of gastric ulcers is considerably reduced.
5- Regulating blood sugar
The creation of insulin that produces onion intake causes blood sugar to be regulated more efficiently and successfully than would normally be done, and all thanks to the sulfur in it.
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.
6- Relief of pain against beetles
Try applying a squeezed onion to the affected area. This will make the pain decrease considerably.
This benefit has been treated for years of one of the most ancient and ancient uses that can be given to the onion, and that is why we could not ignore it either.
Without going further the magazine L.A. Times stated under the name of Dr. Eric Block of the State University of New York in Albany that the fresh onion cut and applied to our swelling can get you lower the inflammation and pain of the bee sting thanks to the different anti-inflammatory qualities that has.
7- Acts as anti-inflammatory and cures infections
According to the International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology, the onion works as an important anti-inflammatory, especially of the respiratory tract, which helps people who develop asthma can reduce their effects with their intake.
This has also been supported in a study published by the American Journal of Physiology in the year 2013.
According to dietician Anne Mauney Polyphenols Onions act as antioxidants, protecting the body against free radicals."
It has been proven that the onion has a type of molecule called under the name of Onionin A that is in a part of the plant bulb. What it does is inhibit the activity of macrophages. What is achieved is that on many occasions the chronic inflammations are kept under control.
8- Improves skin and scalp
Thanks to the vitamin C that the onion enjoys, we will be able to enjoy a better skin besides maintaining a brighter hair. Vitamin C helps to Collagen In our body.
9- Helps sleep and combat depression
The onion helps to fall asleep due to the folate, a compound that helps to prevent excesses of Homocysteine , Which often leads to different depressive disorders.
Likewise, if we had an excess of homocysteine, we would not sleep the same way we do with regulated and controlled levels.
10- 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 probability of suffering a risk of fracture.
This is verified by the magazine Menopause , Which in 2009 performed a study in which the women analyzed reduced the chance of bone breakage 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 known vegetable we refer to the most cultivated species of the genus Allium. Its other known name is Allium Cepa L., which comes etymologically from the word"strain"meaning onion.
It should be noted that there is a great variety within the above family, among which we can also find chives, leeks or even garlic.
Regarding the onion, its variants also dictate to be similar in all, because we can find multitude of flavors, forms and colors. The most usual?
Red, white, or even yellow onions are usually the most common. Their flavors usually dictate between smooth, spicy or acrid.
As for its formation, it should be noted the amount of nutrients it enjoys such as vitamins, different antioxidants such as sulfur in addition to minerals, including calcium, iron, folate, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium.
History
The history of the onion begins to be written for millennia, concretely during the age of the bronze, since different analyzes concluded concluding that there were different remains of onion next to several carved stones. All this going back around 5000 a. C.
Advancing a few more years in time, we came across the Egyptians, who would mix it in their different recipes along with the leeks and garlic . Curiously, it is said that the workers who were in the pyramids of Gizeh were fed mainly onion during the arduous task of the construction of these.
In addition, they were used in burials. Precisely, it would be in the tomb of Ramses IV where they would be rest of this vegetable inside the basins of its own eyes.
If we moved to classical Greece, the athletes ate it so that their blood flowed faster than the gladiators at the time of the fight.
It would not be until years later in the Middle Ages when its production was massified until being treated like one of the most important foods of the time. Such was his fame that it was frequent to find an onion as a gift and gift, or even as a method of currency.
During the modern era, its functions have been taking more and more fame within the stoves until today, where it has become an essential ingredient to give flavor to almost any type of dish.
Recipes
First of all we must say that the onion can be served in different baking and shapes. As for the cooking, we can serve 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:
- Rough way : Is mainly based on cutting into a kind of thick chunks.
- Juliana : Begins to cut into thin sheets for quick cooking.
Clarifying this, let's go to show a set of flashy and easy to prepare recipes at home:
Squids with onions
Cut the squid into slices, the onion in julienne and chop garlic. After that, we put the onion in a frying pan and we add the garlic and the squids in this order. Add salt, pepper to the laurel and wine. Cook until reduced and finally add the fish stock.
- Ingredients : 1 kg. Of squid, 1 kg. Onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 glass of fish stock, 1 glass of white wine, 1 bay leaf, olive oil, pepper and salt.
Pigeon with truffled onion and macaroni
Pepper the pigeons with a clove of garlic each. Pour two tablespoons of olive oil and heat it in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.
Meanwhile, cook the macaroni and cut the onion and pochando the onion to add liquid cream along with grated truffle. To finish we mount the plate with the macaroni and its cream and onion with the pichones in the zone superior.
- Ingredients : 2 pigeons, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 onions, 1 nut 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 julienne to pocharla and add a vegetable broth along with aromatic herbs. After this, we add a little brandy and a spoonful of mustard.
Then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. To finish the dish we sprinkle Gruyére cheese on its top and bake it until gratinar.
Undoubtedly, this is one of the easiest recipes, and at the same time better at the time of executing it.
- Ingredients : 2 onions, 1 liter of vegetable broth, aromatic herbs, brandy, 1 tablespoon of mustard, Gruyére cheese or, if you like, olive oil, pepper and salt.
Cauliflower and Onion Salad
Cook the cauliflower while peeling some carrots and onion, cutting these two in taquitos and juliana correspondingly to set them on a plate. Add a few peppers cut equally in tacos and place the cauliflower already cooked. Finish with a dressing of olive oil and salt to taste.
- Ingredients : Medium cauliflower, 1 onion purple, 2 carrots, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 tomato, olive oil and salt.