Of course, we know that vegetables are inherently good for our health. After all, The World Health Organisation recommends that adults eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables a day and consuming more veg will benefit the entire body.
However, according to one doctor, there’s one specific vegetable that we should be eating more of it we’re looking to lower inflammation or reduce our cancer risk.
Dr Poonam Desai, an osteopathic physician who is double board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine and Emergency Medicine, shared her go-to vegetable in a recent TikTok video.
In the video, Dr Desai says that she eats onions “routinely” but it’s not that simple as how you eat them and which onions you eat, actually matters.
This is because onions contain something called quercetin. This gives onions their powerful antioxidant benefits and anti-inflammatory benefits. However, red onions contain more of this than white or yellow onions.
Additionally, these are best eaten raw as if they’re cooked, the levels of quercetin are decreased and Dr Desai opts to eat them raw to “maximise the health benefits of the onions.”
While this may seem simple enough, Dr Desai does urge that the slightly “slimy” layer underneath the first flaky layer of onion is actually the best part to eat as it contains even more quercetin.
@doctoranddancer Who else loves onions? #onions#nutrition#health
♬ original sound - Dr. Poonam Desai
According to Healthline, some more health benefits of quercetin are:
Quercetin’s potential anti-inflammatory properties may provide allergy symptom relief
Research suggests that quercetin’s antioxidant properties may help protect against degenerative brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
What’s good for us isn’t always what tastes best and for a lot of us, the aftertaste of red onions is enough to put us off adding them to our salads or sandwiches. However, according to The Kitchn, there is a solution for this.
In a 2020 blog post, the food experts said: “All you need to do is give the sliced onions a good soak in a bowl of water before serving them. This one simple step tames the bite of the raw onions and mellows out their flavour.
“The sulphur compounds responsible for that harsh “biting” flavor and onion’s powerful aftertaste dissipate into the water from the cut surfaces of the onion.”
Probably worth it for all of those health benefits!
