What’s trending this week on social media? Well, Twitter was on fire with a retweets of a Mercola.com posting on Jan. 4 dealing favorite subject – onions!
The story, using info from the National Onion Association as well as health publications and funded studies, was viewed by thousands on the www.mercola.com website itself and was then read by an exponentially expanding audience. Isn’t technology cool?
The main takeaway is that while we all know the importance of onions in a healthy diet, this story underscores the value of keeping that importance in the forefront of consumers’ minds. Onions should be mainstream items, center-of-grocery-cart, and the more consumers know about onions’ health benefits, the more onions those consumers will buy. Again, it’s the high tide that floats all the boats.
The article leads with this: “Eighty-seven percent of U.S. adults say they like onions (per Business Wire, May 4, 2010), which is great news since they’re one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Rich in vitamin C, sulphuric compounds, flavonoids, and other phytochemicals (per Live Science, Oct. 16, 2014), an onion a day may help keep the doctor away.”
And it goes on to list the other beneficial compounds found in onions – polyphenols, quercetin, prebiotic inulin and more.
A graph provides a quick look at what those compounds do, i.e. quercetin may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, relieve symptoms of interstitial cystitis and lower lung cancer risk (per the University of Maryland Medical Center research on quercetin).
Drawing on information from the NOA, the article explains the differences in onion varieties and the periods of availability as well as best usage. There are prep tips, hints on peeling (be careful not to overpeel (per J Agric Food Chem, Oct. 19, 2005, and the George Matelijan Foundation).
All in all the story is a great source of onion facts and stats, and turning it and similar information loose on social media might be a tidal wave.
