Three healthy reasons you should add onions to your shopping list today!

There may be a reason why onions are the starting point of choice for the cuisine of so many cultures around the world.

But if you don’t like onions, there’s an important reason why you should reconsider.

According to Dr Jonathan Wright of Nutrition & Healing, research has shown onions have strong anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic actions.

While onions come in different shapes and sizes, “a recent study shows that all onions are not equal when it comes to their healthful qualities,” says Dr Wright.

And that’s the main reason they should be number on your shopping list.

Stop cancer in its tracks, add onions to your shopping list today

According to Dr Wright, researchers sought to determine which varieties of onions had the highest antioxidant qualities, as well as the ability to inhibit cancer cell growth.

The varieties included in the study were: Shallot, western yellow, New York bold, northern red, empire sweet, western white, Peruvian sweet, Mexico, Texas 1015, Imperial Valley sweet and Vidalia.

You’ll be forgiven for not knowing there are so many onions.

“The winner was the shallot, a staple in Asian, Mexican, French, and Mediterranean cooking,” says Dr Wright. Shallots had the highest antioxidant activity among the 11 varieties tested.

In addition, shallots also had the greatest effect against liver cancer cell growth, along with the western yellow and the New York bold, although the latter two were the highest ranked against colon cancer cell growth.

If you shun onions because of their effect on breath and their ability to make you cry during meal preparation, there’s a solution

To combat the tears when slicing and dicing, chill them for about an hour before cutting. This slows the activity of the enzyme that produces the allyl sulfate, which is what causes the tears.

As for that infamous “onion breath,” chew a sprig of parsley after any meal containing onion.

There you have it. Three great reasons why you must add onions to your shopping list today!