Red onions, also known as purple onions and Spanish onions, come with purplish red skin and white flesh tinged with red. They contain plenty of phytochemicals and healthy nutrients that provide long-term health benefits. Making red onions a part of your daily diet may help reduce your risk of chronic disease.
Red onions are medium to large in size and are often eaten raw, added as color to salads, grilled or lightly cooked with other foods. Though we use them as spices to our food for taste, they have a great deal of health benefits.
Health Benefits Of Red Onions
1. Blood Sugar Control
Red Onions contain a mineral component known as chromium that plays a very important role in blood sugar regulation.
2. Improved Immunity
Red onions are rich in photochemical that aids in the function of vitamin C hence boosts body’s immunity. This helps to improve the body’s ability to fight infections.
3. Fighting Inflammation
Red onions have been used to treat infections and inflammations since old times.
4. Healthy Heart
Raw slices of red onions are very healthy for your heart. They help in boosting production of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) which minimizes risk of heart diseases like stroke and heart attack. Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) leads to heart problems due to cholesterol levels in the arteries.
5. Pain Relief
Red onions are very useful in relieving pain particularly pain caused by stinging insects which leaves a burning sensation. If a bee stings you, apply red onion juice on the affected area and you will experience immediate relief from the burning sensation.
6. Cancer Prevention
Red onions contain a powerful chemical known as quercetin that helps in the war against cancer. Quercetin belongs to a group of plant pigments known as flavonoids. Quercetin’s role is to inhibit the growth of cancer cells ranging from colon, breast and prostate to ovarian cancer. It has been proven through research that intake of quercitin lowers risk of lung cancer.
7. Prevents Gastric Ulcers
Red onions are very effective in fighting free radicals that are responsible for obnoxious gastric ulcers. The onions eat away the free radicals and eliminate them from the gastric tract thereby reducing the risk of gastric ulcers.
