Onions may make you cry when you chop them up for Carciofi alla Fiesolana but their health benefits will wipe the tears streaming down your face away.
Onions are an outstanding source of quercetin, a potent antioxidant flavonoid that has been deemed by many to be a natural anti-histamine. If you suffer from terrible allergies yet don’t want to take massive doses of allergy medication that may not even work, all you need to do is eat Frittata with Scallions. You will then certainly be able to ditch the tissues!
Along with it’s hay fever butt-kicking powers, the quercetin in onions has antibiotic, antiviral (destroying many disease-causing pathogens, including E. coli and salmonella) and anticancer properties (thanks to the onion’s other powerful antioxidants) as well.
Quercetin’s strength doesn’t stop there. The flavonoid, which can also be found in shallots, has been shown to thin blood and ward off blood clots, lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol, fight asthma, chronic bronchitis and hay fever, reduce the likelihood of diabetes, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and is specifically linked to inhibiting stomach cancer!
While you may think you need to eat copious amounts of these pungent bulbs to garner the health benefits, you are mistaken! In fact, you only need to eat one medium raw or cooked onion a day in order to absorb quercetin’s impressive health benefits!
There really is no excuse to not eat onions, including the one about these bulbs making your breath stink. In fact, you should encourage your significant other or date to chow down on the pungent vegetable as you do, that way, you both will have onion breath!
So the next time you’re hacking away at an onion and you start to get teary-eyed, just think about how happy your health will be when you chow down!
