This week, we found a super cool use for onions that can save us in a pinch when our smartphones are out of juice and there are no electrical outlets in sight.
Smartphone chargers aside, it’s safe to say we’re all in agreement that the onion industry brings to the table, literally, a nutritional powerhouse, and we’re glad the folks at the National Onion Association have a page devoted to that very topic at https://www.onions-usa.org/all-about-onions/onion-health-research.
Delicious? Yes, onions are definitely delish. But our favorite vegetable provides a boatload of nutrients and phytochemicals that promote good health as well. They’re high in vitamin C, provide dietary fiber and folic acid. And they contain calcium and iron, two life-sustaining minerals. Onions also have a “high protein quality,” which is defined as the ratio of a milligram of acid to a gram of protein. That’s a good thing. What’s more, onions are low in sodium and contain zip/zero/nada fat.
“Onions contain quercetin, a flavonoid (one category of antioxidant compounds),” the NOA site reads. “Antioxidants are compounds that help delay or slow the oxidative damage to cells and tissue of the body. Studies have indicated that quercetin helps to eliminate free radicals in the body, to inhibit low-density lipoprotein oxidation (an important reaction in the atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease), to protect and regenerate vitamin E (a powerful antioxidant), and to inactivate the harmful effects of chelate metal ions.”
Shuman Produce and its Real Sweet Vidalia Onions site, http://www.realsweet.com/did-you-know/, tells us also that “… research has shown that those who consume eight or more servings of vegetables a day are 22 percent less likely to die of heart disease. Add a sliced or chopped onion to your next meal and reap the benefits.” Real Sweet goes on to say, “Onions are thought to provide protection against certain types of cancers. In Vidalia, GA – right in the center of sweet onion country – mortality rates from stomach cancer are approximately half of what they are in the rest of the nation.”
