Onions
Like its cousin, garlic, the onion is noted as a cure-all. And the folk healers hold it in high
regard as far back as 6,000 years ago or more.Although onion was only mentioned once in the Bible, it was within a list of foods with the
best healing properties. Hence, its inclusion here.
Onions were considered such an important source of energy and endurance, wrote
Herodotus, the Greek historian, that the Egyptian pharaohs spent nine tons of gold for
onions to feed the slaves and laborers who built the pyramids. Whether of not it was an
acquired taste history doesn’t say. But the Jews took a distinct fondness for the onion
when they followed Moses into the wilderness.
So at least 3,000 years before the birth of Christ, onions were treasured both as food and
for their therapeutic value – particularly in the treatment of kidney and bladder problems.
Onions have been used externally as an antiseptic and a pain reliever. They’ve been taken
internally as a tonic to soothe intestinal gas pains and to alleviate the symptoms of
hypertension, high blood sugar and elevated cholesterol.
In some countries in the Balkans, people attribute their long life to a diet that includes
high concentrations of onions and yogurt.
It’s said the fold remedies in many other cultures called for the juice of an onion and
syrup made from honey to treat coughs, colds and asthma attacks. A tonic of onions
soaked in gin or a similar distilled spirit was prescribed for kidney stones and to eliminate
excessive fluids.
Modern herbalists recommend onion syrup as an expectorant (it helps eliminate mucus
from the respiratory tract). Onions are also believed to be diuretic and to reduce high
blood pressure.
Onions also have a profound effect on blood cholesterol by raising the good and lowering
the bad. In fact, Dr. Victor Gurewich, a professor of medicine at Tufts University, has
made a careful study of cardiovascular disease and onions and simply advises: “Eat
onions.”
The therapeutic components in onions also slow blood clotting in addition to regulating
blood sugar, breaking up bronchial congestion and possibly preventing cancer.
Luckily, you don’t have to gorge on onions to get protection for your heart.
Some doctors say as little as ½ a raw onion will boost good cholesterol by 30%. And a single tablespoon
of cooked onions will nullify the adverse effects of eating a fatty meal.
Onions are also effective against bacteria like the deadly E. coli and salmonella. Onions
possess a strong antibiotic that kills a variety of bacteria responsible for illnesses ranging
from diarrhea to tuberculosis.
The people of the Bible were among the first to treat colds and similar ailments with
onions. Now, technology is confirming that many of those age-old folk remedies have
scientific proof.
