Mail Bag

By Mail Bag

Editor's Note: An interesting article from our Mail Bag.

Onions, Remedies and Legends

Give it a try....nothing to lose.

Maybe.... who knows? Read on.

ONIONS

A friend of mine told me a story about how when he was a kid
he was in the hospital & near dying. His Italian
grandmother came to the hospital & told a family member to
go buy 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 & 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. The
following story that someone sent to me might have some
truth in it & we are going to try it this winter.

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was
this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he
could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and
their family had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one 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 (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor
couldn't believe it and 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 did find the flu virus in the
onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore
keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said
that several years ago many of her employees were coming
down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The
next year she placed several bowls with onions around in
her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It
must work. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)

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 even on top
somewhere. Try it and see what happens. We did it last
year and we never got the flu.

If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all
the better. If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild
case.

Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!

Now there is a P. S. to this, for I sent it to a friend in
Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health
issues. She replied with this most interesting experience
about onions:

Weldon,thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the
farmers story, but I do know that 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.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and
garlic placed around the room saved many from the black
plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial,
antiseptic properties.

Medicinal Properties of Onion: This Humble Bulb Deserves Far More Respect Than It Currently Gets! | Suite101.com

From mouth odour to teary eyes, the onion is a much maligned vegetable. But there are far more health benefits afforded by the onion than we know.

The onion is amongst the oldest of all cultivated plants and has its origins in Central Asia. For over 4000 years, Central Asian, Egyptian and Indian traditional systems of medicine have recognized the medicinal properties of onion, which is why it forms an inseparable part of the diet in these countries.
Along with garlic, leeks, chives, scallions, and shallots, onion is a member of the lily family and bears the scientific name Allium cepa. Today, onions are the world's second most important horticultural crop, with an annual retail value in the United States of more than $3 billion. In your garden or grocery shelf, onion is available in many forms – red, green, yellow and white.Each of these types have a different ‘flavour’ and differ in their pungency.
Onions are rich in thiosulfinates, sulfides, sulfoxides, and other odoriferous sulfur compounds. The cysteine sulphoxides like allyl sulphoxide are responsible for the onion flavour and the eye-irritation that invariably occurs when one cuts an onion. The red colour of onion is due to anthocyanin while yellow due to quercetin.
A General Tonic : Keeps You Fighting Fit!
In early America and China, wild onions were used as a treatment for cold, cough, asthma, angina and breathing problems. Today, the WHO recognizes the use of onion extracts in providing relief from asthma as well as ulcers, scars and loss of appetite [1]. Onions are carminative, melt the phlegm and oil extracted from them is volatile. Many cultures believe that onion juice rubbed all over the body, or given orally brings stamina and vitality.
It's Cool, Dude!
Onion is said to have a ‘cooling’ effect on the body. Traditional wisdom recommends higher consumption of onion for people with more ‘body heat’, such as those suffering from skin eruptions. In villages of India, onion and jaggery in water is often taken to cure fatigue after a long walk under a hot sun. It also reduces thirst and the ill-effects of a sun-stroke.