How Onion drives away viruses

01/12/2009

Maneka Gandhi

(Bihar Times) I have spent a week sniveling and coughing. So has everybody in my office and it seems as if everyone in Parliament is also ill. All I can smell is that horrible Vicks vaseline eucalyptus. Winter is very early this year, sharp and nasty with smog and disease. The chances of flu are so high that party hostesses have even stopped airkissing and shaking hands. Namaste is back in fashion.

Three months of winter loom ahead and this time everyone will get flu. So, this article, based on information a friend has sent me, might help you.

“ A friend of mine told me a story about when he was a kid he was in the hospital and nearly dying. His grandmother came to the hospital & told a family member to get her a large onion & a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet and put the white cotton socks on him. In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks. The slices of onion were black & his fever was gone.

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people a doctor visited farmers to see if he could help them. He came upon this farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home. The doctor asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he found the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, keeping the family healthy.

In a more recent story, a hairdresser said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick.

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or on top somewhere. We did it last year and never got the flu. I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill...I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar...placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better. “

However , on the flip side, onions should be eaten after they have been cut . Half cut onions must Not be stored as they will have collected some very harmful bacteria. If they are to be stored, they must be fried to golden brown in a good cooking medium.
Simmered onions in hot water and sweetened with honey makes a good cough medicine. The sulphur compounds in onions also inhibit the allergic, inflammatory response like that seen in asthma.

Raw onions eaten in a salad twice or thrice a day will help to clear stuffed nostrils resulting from ordinary cold and will also give relief to patients of asthma, nasal and bronchial catarrh.
The pungent onion family consists of onion, chive, leek, shallots, scallion and garlic.

While the claims for them range from stopping cancer to detoxifying the body of heavy metals and parasites, preventing high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, osteoporosis , diabetes and asthma , I am only interested in its ability to keep me away from colds this winter.
Garlic is also supposed to treat the cold virus and hay fever, treat the respiratory tract. When eaten regularly, either separately or together, garlic and onions can aid in protecting the body against disease. Add ginger to the mix and you’ll be incorporating into the diet what many yogis refer to as “the trinity roots of life.” garlic juice is effective if your cold is not too intense.

Fresh parsley or mint cancels much of the strong breath which results from eating raw garlic and onion and also minimizes its burning sensation in the stomach.

Protect yourself by having lots of broccoli, spinach and oranges. Colorful fruits and vegetables are sources of beta carotene, vitamin E, selenium and vitamin C and work together to boost the immune response and increase resistance to infection, colds and flu bugs. Carrots, apricots and broccoli, also maintains the skin and mucous linings in the nose and lungs, which are the body's first line of defense against germs.

Meat and dairy products increase a person's susceptibility to colds and flu. When you get sick , do Not have chicken soup. Remember, scientists grow bacteria, viruses and yeast in chicken soup Petri dishes in the laboratory. This is the medium in which germs grow the fastest.

Going for a brisk, 45-minute walk five times a week reduces colds, possibly by stimulating the production of more infection-fighting cells, a study in The American Journal of Medicine indicates. Drink lots of fluids from vegetable soups to juices to just plain water. Orange juice and lime juice are great flu remedies because they are loaded with Vitamin C. Soak your feet in hot water and have a back rub. Even warm showers are good flu remedies as they help ease body aches and congestion.