If you’re into healthy home cooking, onions — including red onions — should have a permanent place in your pantry. Like most vegetables, onions are ultra-low in calories and contain antioxidants that promote good health. Red onions aren’t a super source of many vitamins and minerals, but they do contain some, and they’re loaded with organosulfur that may offer some serious health benefits.
A powerful natural medicine, a diuretic, and remedy for the eyes joints, and digestion is what this popular vegetable will turn out to be. Planted in Chinese gardens as early as 5,000 years ago with Vedic writings referring to its use dating back 600 BC.,
A healthy and delicious vegetable
Red onions are most popular because of phytochemicals, which are important because they boost our immune system. Red onion is also a rich source of vitamin K, B6, and C, but at the same time, the phytochemicals act as a stimulant to vitamin C within the body. Fiber from red onion helps in the functioning of the digestive tract, and it helps prevent constipation. Red onion is rich in minerals, too: it has folate, thiamine, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and manganese.
Among others health benefits, red onions contain antioxidants, flavonoids. Antioxidants are important because they are fighting free radicals. Free radicals (toxic organic waste) are considered dangerous because they can cause cancer by mutating the DNA. Because of that, quercetin, antioxidant from red onion, is most valued. Some studies showed that it can even reduce the spreading of cancer through the body. Studies showed that one-half of onion on a daily basis could reduce the risk of stomach cancer by 50%.
Additionally, people have used onions as folk natural remedies in the following ways for centuries:
- Onions make you cry while you cut them, which can be helpful in the case of debris or other irritant caught in the eye
- Add onion juice to peppermint tea to treat vomiting
- Place a fresh slice of onion on mosquito bites to soothe the itching
- Sleeping with onion slices in the socks has been used as a natural way to detoxify the body and treat colds and the flu
- Apply onion flesh on warts, secure with a bandage, and leave it to act overnight to get rid of these skin growths
- Chew onion with the wisdom tooth to soothe the pain
- To eliminate excess earwax and soothe an earache, place an onion core into the ear, leave it overnight, and remove it in the morning
- Onion syrups have been used to treat common colds and all their symptoms
Serving more red onions
Onions form the flavor base of so many cuisines that it’s easy to include red onions in a wide range of meals. Because red onions are mild and sweet compared to other varieties of onion, you’re more likely to serve’em raw — like in a salad, wrap, or sandwich, or as a garnish for spreads or dips.
If you want a healthy treat, make your own onion rings by coating red onion rings with whole-wheat breading and baking until golden brown.
However, you can use them in cooking. Add diced red onions to your scrambled eggs or omelets for lots of flavors, or add roughly chopped red onions to stir-fries.