Onions, the great tastemaker, are essential parts of different cuisines. Munching on juicy onions can enhance our enjoyment of a wholesome main dish. And we seem to give a damn on the aftereffect- onion breath and maintaining distances from people around us.
But it's the juicy flesh inside which has won the Oscars while the dry, brown skins have found their ways right into the kitchen garbage can. Researchers at the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) have suggested that the outer onion skin contains fiber and flavonoids while the bulbs have been found to be rich in sulfurous compounds and fructans.
The study has found that the brown skin is rich in non-soluble fiber and phenolic compounds like quercetin and plant metabolites, which have medicinal values. A high fiber diet reduces the risk of colon cancer, obesity, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiovascular problems and type-2 diabetes.
Phenolic compounds are known to display anti-carcinogenic properties and they can prevent heart diseases as well. Fructans are beneficial for health in the sense that they stimulate bacterial growth and activity in the colon selectively.
Researchers have opined that the separation of different parts of onions produced at the time of industrial processing, may enable the use of these parts as sources of these essential compounds for addition to various food items.
