Onions - useful properties and contraindications

All the well-known onions (onions) have long been considered one of the most popular and affordable vegetables commonly used in food, both raw and as an ingredient for the preparation of hundreds of different dishes. A man has been using it for several thousand years now, and also uses it as a cosmetic and medicine.

The original homeland of onions is the southwestern part of Asia, where from ancient times it has been growing in the wild and cultivated in agricultural form. Due to its pleasant taste and a wide range of miraculous properties, this bitter vegetable quickly spread throughout the world.

Useful properties of onions

The huge popularity of onions is easily explained by the fact that it has many useful properties:

1. Onions are a regular guest in the kitchen, an excellent component for almost any dish, allowing you to give the food a refined and unique taste.
2. It is characterized by an unusually high concentration of such an element necessary for the human body as iron, so its regular use is considered to be a good prevention of anemia and other diseases.
3. Many of the beneficial substances found in onions are not destroyed even after high-temperature processing, while maintaining their beneficial effect.
4. Dishes with onions are delicious and mouth-watering, which have a stimulating effect on the process of gastric juice production, due to which their digestion is improved and the digestive system as a whole is optimized.
5. Experts assure that with its regular use, the negative processes of decay and fermentation in the intestines and stomach are suppressed, the microflora of the digestive organs normalizes.
6. The potassium contained in it has the most positive effect on the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, strengthening their walls and making them more elastic, and frequent use of the vegetable allows you to cleanse the blood of toxins.
7. Onions have a pronounced calming effect, so its regular use eliminates sleep problems and stabilizes the state of the nervous system.
8. The natural antimicrobial substances contained in it phytoncides quickly eliminate inflammations and infections - it is not for nothing that traditional medicine has been treating colds since ancient times.
9. The antioxidants present in the composition cleanse the body of carcinogens, reduce the likelihood of developing cancer, and slow down the aging process.
10. Cosmetics made from finely grated onion gruel add strength and beauty to weak, dull, lifeless hair, contributing to their active growth.
11. The chemical compounds included in its composition reduce cholesterol and even the amount of sugar in the blood, which is the prevention of a number of serious ailments, and also protect cells from exposure to certain types of radiation.
12. The list of nutrients that onions are so rich in includes many vitamins necessary for a person to increase the body's defenses, enhance the efficiency of the immune system, and prevent the development of vitamin deficiency.

In other words, this inexpensive universal vegetable, sold at every grocery store, and easily grown in the garden, able to be stored for several months in a row in any room, is a real natural storehouse of useful properties.

Chemical composition

Doctors say that the beneficial properties without chemicals grown onions due to the fact that it contains a lot of substances necessary for human health:

• Vitamins (the so-called ascorbic acid, tocopherol and many others);
• Minerals (compounds of glands and fluorine, potassium and phosphorus, sodium and zinc, as well as calcium and iodine);
• Volatile - chemical compounds with antimicrobial activity;
• Natural sugars (in the form of glucose, inulin, fructose);
• Dietary fiber that has a beneficial effect on digestion;
• Tannins and essential oils;
• Antioxidants and organic acids.

The presence of these and other substances in the composition of modern onion varieties makes it a real natural doctor who can help in the healing of a number of ailments, which has a preventive effect and strengthens the body.

Why is onion so sharp?

The sharp smell of onions, causing tears during the cutting of this root crop, as well as its characteristic sharp bitter taste, are due to the high content of special essential oils with volatile. These compounds, characterized by high volatility, boast powerful antimicrobial and antiviral properties, and also play the role of antiseptics. It is enough to leave only one cut onion in the room so that the air is cleaned of pathogens dangerous to humans - viruses, infections, a microscopic fungus, bacteria.

Onion contraindications

Unfortunately, especially if you take into account the beneficial qualities of onions, far from all people can take it for food or for other purposes. Of course, the value of this vegetable is very high, but you need to understand that each person has his own characteristics. The generally accepted list of contraindications includes:

• Liver disease
• High blood pressure - onions are dangerous for hypertension;
• Asthma - a sharp-smelling vegetable can cause another attack;
• Ulcers - caustic essential oils provoke inflammation of the mucous membranes;
• Metabolic problems.

Fortunately, all of these warnings are only relevant for raw onions. While in a boiled, fried or stewed form, this bitter vegetable is absolutely harmless to any person, and at the same time it retains many useful properties.

Bad smell of onions

A characteristic feature of eating onions is persistent bad breath from the oral cavity, which persists for several hours in a row. Interrupting it with chewing gum or brushing your teeth is quite difficult.

Almost completely get rid of the unpleasant onion smell allows parsley or walnut, but only if it was eaten in relatively small quantities. Therefore, before an important meeting, it is recommended to refrain from eating vegetables.

The treatment of colds

Inhaling the fumes of freshly chopped onion or grated on a kitchen grater, as well as its use as food in baked and other forms, has long been considered an effective folk remedy for treating such processes in the respiratory tract as:

• Cold.
• Runny nose.
• Flu.

Onion treatment is considered to be especially effective in the early stages of colds - in this case, recovery can occur within a few hours. It is enough to breathe onions for a quarter of an hour 3-7 times a day, with the mouth and nose alternately. At the same time, pathogens located in the respiratory tract are destroyed, and immunity as a whole is strengthened.

Treatment of purulent skin diseases

Onions and colds

A common companion to diseases such as the common cold is a sore throat.Irritation and pain are easily removed by onion juice mixed with linden, raspberry, forest or any other natural honey in equal parts. The tool must be taken 4 times a day, one standard teaspoon of 5 ml. This is best done after eating - in this case, healing will take much less time.

Onion husk against disease

An excellent remedy for a number of ailments is onion peel, namely, strong decoctions and infusions prepared from it. With its help, fungal diseases of nails are effectively treated - it is enough to keep the affected legs or hands in a container with a ready-made broth for at least half an hour every day.

Taking the infusion from the husk inside, you can get rid of cramps in the extremities - just take a spoonful of washed and crushed raw materials, dissolve it in a glass of hot boiling water, insist until warm, carefully strain through clean cheesecloth and consume overnight.

A decoction of the husks of bitter onions is a proven folk remedy that facilitates the treatment of kidney diseases such as cystitis or nephritis. 3 tablespoons of the prepared raw materials are boiled for 60 seconds in 400 milliliters of water, after which they are insisted until cooling for 30 minutes. The resulting liquid is filtered from debris and taken in doses of 3 tablespoons up to 4 times a day.

Onions and viral diseases

Everyone knows literally from early childhood - fresh onions are considered an excellent tool for the treatment or prevention of one of the most common diseases in the cold season - SARS. By placing several finely chopped bulbs in different places of the home, you can significantly reduce the risk of acquiring viral infections by family members, since the volatile substances contained in this vegetable purify the air in the room from pathogens. By placing a plate with onion gruel near the patient’s bed, his recovery can be significantly accelerated.

Video: what is useful for onions