RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONION AND HUMAN

Natural Remedies - Onion Health Benefits

 

Onions are also used in the treatment of piles or haemorrhoids. The juice of 30 gms of onion mixed with water and sugar is administered to the patient twice a day.

In alopecia or hair loss, a topical application of onion juice has been said to initiate the re-growth of hair.

Cough, cold and asthma is often treated with a good serving of onions, as it is known to decrease bronchial spasms. Onion juice mixed with honey helps cure bronchitis and influenza.

Onions are also known to stimulate the growth of good bacteria while suppressing the growth of harmful bacteria in the colon, thus reducing the risk of colon cancer.

The juice of Tulsi leaves (holy basil) with equal quantities of lemon juice and onion extract applied on the skin takes care of many skin diseases.

A slice of cut onion rubbed over acne is supposed to clear up the skin quickly by taking off the bacterial infections.

Naturopaths recommend eating onion and jaggery to increase body weight.

Eating one raw onion a day reduces the bad cholesterol in the blood.

A topical application of onion juice is an excellent remedy for warts. One finely chopped onion sprinkled with salt and left for a few hours is also an effective remedy. This needs to be repeated 3 to 4 times a day until the wart dries up.

The cure for cholera in Indian household for ages has been - one onion pounded with 7 black peppers. It brings down the frequency of vomiting and diarrhea immediately, a little sugar could be added to the mixture to increase its effectiveness.

A tea made of onions boiled in water, cooled, strained and given to patients suffering from urinary infections gives immediate relief.

In India, we would slice an onion and rub it over the sting of a bee, wasp or a mosquito to ease the discomfort.

In the treatment for chicken pox, Indian women would traditionally serve the afflicted person a bowl of curd (home made unflavored yogurt) mixed with rice and chopped onions.

Onion and tears of the eyes

Onions are known to make you cry when chopping or cutting them. This is due to the presence of a gas called syn-Propanethial-S-oxide.

It is a compound liquid that acts as what is called a lachrymatory agent - something that causes tears or stings the eyes.

A study published in Nature proposed that it might be possible "to develop a non-lachrymatory onion by suppressing the lachrymatory factor synthase gene while increasing the yield of thiosulphinate.

Thiosulphinate is responsible for the flavour of fresh onion and is converted to compounds that are said to have hypolipodaemic and antiplatelet aggregation effects.

Although downregulating alliinase itself would also lead to a non-lachrymatory onion, its flavour and nutritional value might be compromised."

There are a few ways to help avoid onion tears, these include:

• Cutting onions in a small pool of water, this can help keep the gases from making contact with your eyes.
• Using an extractor fan, exhaust hood, or even just opening a window for a fresh source of air can prevent the compounds from irritating the eyes.
• Cutting the onion near running water, or a cloud of steam.

Seeing as an onion that doesn't make you cry might not taste so good, it is probably best to just cope with the potential tears while chopping onions as they usually do no harm.