Health Benefits of Onion with its Nutritional Breakdown

Featured Image Caption: Onion Health Benefits

Adding onions in your diet has several health benefits. It could lower the risk of various types of cancer, enhance mood and maintain healthy skin and hair.

Onions belong to allium family and are known both for its pungent flavor and medicinal properties. The most common types of onions are yellow, red and white.

Depending upon the season in which they are grown, their flavors vary from sweet juicy, mild flavor to sharp, pungent and spicy.

Nutritional Breakdown of Onions:

These nutrient packed foods are low in calories and high in beneficial nutrients like vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. One cup of chopped onion contains approximately 15 grams of carbohydrate, 64 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of cholesterol, 7 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber and 10% or more of the daily value for vitamin C, vitamin B-6 and manganese. It also contains small amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, folate, and potassium and the antioxidants quercetin and sulfur. It also contains enzyme allinase as well as flavonoids which is responsible for giving color to the vegetable.

Several Health Benefits of Consuming Onions:

Health Benefits of Onion in Cancer:

Onions contain numerous anti-cancer compounds including quercetin, which has been proved effective in lowering down the initiation of tumors and inhibiting the proliferation of cultured breast, ovarian and colon cancer cells. It reduces the DNA damage in cells by free radicals. Being a rich source of strong antioxidant vitamin C, it helps to combat the formation of free radicals that can cause cancer.

Health Benefits of Onion in Fighting against Regenerative Disease and Fungi:

Red onion provides allicin, a potent health promoting compound. Allicin is effective in promoting cardio vascular health, prevent and treating cancer as lowering high blood pressure. Its anti fungal properties also help to get rid of dandruff.

Health Benefits of Onion in Enhancing Sleep and Mood:

Folate in onions, may help with depression by prohibiting an excess of homocysteine formation in the body. It restricts blood and other nutrients from reaching the brain. Excess homocysteine hinder with the production of the feel good hormones like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, which control not only mood, but also sleep and appetite as well.

Health Benefits of Onion in Skin and Hair:

Adequate intake of vitamin C is needed for the building and maintenance of collagen, which provides structure to skin and hair.

Health Benefits of Onion in Maintaining Glucose Levels:

Being a rich source of chromium, it helps to control the glucose levels. The active compound seems to be more responsible for lowering down the glucose levels by competing with insulin for breakdown sites in liver, thus increasing the life span of insulin.

Additional Health Benefits of Onion:

With Glycemic Index rating of 10, onions are considered as low glycemic food. Its low glycemic factor regulates blood sugar and insulin levels, thereby causing the body to store less fat.

Benefit in Detoxifying your Body:

Onions contain sulphur containing amino acids, called methionine and cysteine. They act as a very good agent in detoxifying your body from heavy metals. They get latch with the lead, mercury and cadmium and throw them out of the body.