The benefits of red onions in the fight against cancer

Onions have long been part of grandmother's reme­dies: they are used for colds, coughs, fevers, ear­aches, to heal and dis­in­fect small cuts, warts, to soothe minor wounds, insect bites and even to fight against blood pres­sure and cho­les­terol. In oth­er words, the onion is one of the "health plants".

The components of onions that are good for your health

Antioxidants

Onions con­tain sele­ni­um, a pow­er­ful antiox­i­dant. In addi­tion to its anti-ageing role and its con­tri­bu­tion to the fight against can­cer, sele­ni­um pro­motes the effects of vit­a­min E, and is said to com­bat asth­ma and car­dio­vas­cu­lar disease.

Potassium

Although not par­tic­u­lar­ly rich, onions con­tain potas­si­um. This ele­ment is essen­tial for the prop­er func­tion­ing of our ner­vous sys­tem, diges­tion and the work of the kid­neys. A lack of potas­si­um can lead to cramps, diges­tive prob­lems, etc.

Vitamins

Onions, espe­cial­ly green (young) onions, are rich in vit­a­min B9, also called folic acid. This vit­a­min boosts our immune system.

Flavonoids

Rutosine, which is also found in red fruits, buck­wheat flour and green beans, as well as in tea and red wine, is absorbed by the colon, before pass­ing through the liv­er and kid­neys. It is an anti-oxidant, but it is espe­cial­ly the active com­po­nent in the fight against cancer.

The action of onions against cancer

When rutosin pass­es into the colon, it is metabolised and trans­formed into querce­tol or quercetrin. It is pre­cise­ly this com­po­nent which is present in high dos­es in onions, togeth­er with antho­cyanin, which gives red onions their dark colour. It is the most antiox­i­dant of the flavonoids.

Quercetin has an effect on can­cer cells, caus­ing them to 'com­mit sui­cide'. In addi­tion, it seems to lim­it the mul­ti­pli­ca­tion of can­cer cells by inter­rupt­ing the sig­nal trans­mis­sion mech­a­nisms in the body.

For the time being, these results have been test­ed in the lab­o­ra­to­ry, with onion extracts brought into direct con­tact with can­cer cells. Human exper­i­men­ta­tion has not yet begun.

However, it is cer­tain that a high con­sump­tion of onions, raw if pos­si­ble, can only have a pos­i­tive impact and a pre­ven­tive role, by cre­at­ing an unfavourable envi­ron­ment for the growth and spread of metastases.

The red onion... from Ontario

Very recent­ly, a study by a Canadian uni­ver­si­ty in Ontario con­firmed these prop­er­ties in the fight against can­cer. It went even fur­ther, select­ing the best onions for this pur­pose. And since we're not chau­vin­ists… the best onion in ques­tion is a vari­ety of red onion, the Ruby Ring… grown in Ontario!

Actually, the study only com­pared five vari­eties of onions, all grown in Ontario. Nevertheless (com­pared to pre­vi­ous tests), the study found that Ontario onions con­tained more quercetin than those from oth­er countries.

Without going so far as to import Canadian onions, red onions can be eat­en, espe­cial­ly the dark­er, out­er lay­ers (and there­fore rich­er in flavonoids).

And to reduce the bit­ter­ness of the onion, it can be mar­i­nat­ed before­hand. In par­tic­u­lar in cider vine­gar (anoth­er anti-cancer health food), which will make it ter­ri­bly soft!