Onions are good for you no matter how you have them. But How are Onions Good For Diabetics? They are low in calories and packed with potassium, iron, fiber, vitamin C and many other nutrients as well. There are many nutritional ingredients in onions and there are specific chemicals in onions help to control your blood sugar. It’s important to have at least 3-5 servings of vegetables daily and onions should be on the list.
Why Are Onions so Healthy for Diabetics?
I’ll admit that I am not a big fan of onions by themselves. But adding them to soups, salads, stews and casseroles works for me. They have a strong taste but a much more powerful effect on your health.
This helps in your daily vegetable count with very little carbohydrates and calories. One half a cup depending on which onion you choose can have anywhere from 15- 25 calories and 3 1/2- 6 grams of carbs.
There is one specific ingredient the onions contain that controls blood sugar and is known for its antioxidant properties and additionally can potentially fight cancer and diabetes. The ingredient is a flavonoid antioxidant with the ability to fight inflammation and it’s known as quercetin.
Quercetin can have notable benefits for lowering blood sugar for those with type 2 diabetes. There were tests performed quercetin on animals with diabetes according to the Nutritional Research and Practice journal that resulted in reducing blood hemoglobin and plasma glucose in comparison to controls without much influence on plasma insulin.
The researchers concluded that the quercetin was effective in controlling the blood glucose levels of the animals. This was helpful with diabetes with animals and there is the need to have additional research with testing humans. There will be more research done as it appears that quercetin is a great potential for lowering blood sugar.
Red Onions for Lowering Blood Glucose
The presence of diabetes in folks rose almost 150% from the year 1980 to the year 2008. That is astronomical and it has been linked to a growing epidemic of obesity! With testing in type 1 diabetics a fasting blood sugar was decreased by 140 mg/dl when insulin was given after 4 hours.
To compare a reduction of 90 mg/dl was the result after a dosage of 100 grams of red onion was administered, again after a four hour period.
In type 2 diabetics that were given 100 grams of raw red onion at a fasting rate, resulted in a 40 mg/dl decrease in the blood sugar levels. Then a similar comparison was made using 5 mg of a diabetes drug that showed results of a decrease of 80 mg/dl.
The end result the researchers came to was that the common onion (allium cepa) showed nutritional benefits as far as blood glucose levels in both type 1 and type 2 people with diabetes. If you have diabetes you should be eating red onions that are raw because they aid in raising your insulin levels. This is what you want.
They are a vegetable with lots of fiber and this also helps keeping your digestive track operating smoothly. This is very beneficial for the health of your stomach. Your stomach will thank you.
Types of Onions
Red Onions
Red onions are sweet enough and tender enough that you can eat them raw. The skin is of a dark magenta color.
White Onions
These have a very thin paper like skin and are somewhat sweeter and a bit more mild than yellow onions. But white onions are just as healthy.
Yellow Onions
Yellow onions have an off white inside with a skin that is a darker brown. Their scent is rather strong and similar to a sulfur aroma.
Leeks
Leeks appear as a long necked onion with a bulb and are the shape of a large scallion. They are perfect for using in sauce or soup. I love potato leek soup. It’s just so good!
Sweet Onions
Sweet onions have a much lighter nontransparent skin that covers the larger body of the onion.
What Else Are Onions Healthy for?
Onions contain two phytochemicals, allyl disulphide and allium which reduce inflammation, help in the controlling of blood sugars, heal infections, and decreasing many types of cancer. Let’s take a look in detail at the extraordinary benefits of onions:
Lowering Blood Sugar Levels
There was studies done on rats that were diabetic and it was very positive as it was determined that quercetin and the sulfur compounds found in onions had very beneficial effects on blood glucose levels. This effect took place when the onions were taken along with metformin being administered. It’s vital to keep those blood glucose numbers in control.
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Your Immune System
One thing you can do to help improve your immune system is to eat onions. They contain the mineral selenium which triggers your immune system. Selenium also hinders excessive immune response that can have unfavorable effects.
Your immune cells that are low in selenium, begin to develop and reproduce and in an inefficient manner. These cells in turn have problems with with moving calcium and in producing needed proteins. Onions with selenium to the rescue!
Enhance Sleep
Onions can help to give you a better quality sleep. They do this with the prebiotics they contain. The bacteria that are in the stomach digest the prebiotics and reproduce which improves the health of your stomach. This results in releasing metabolic byproducts that aid in your sleep process by having positive effects of the function of your brain. There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep!
Boost Your Sex Health
In the western hemisphere onions are one of the best herbs used to improve sexual function by helping with erectile dysfunction and managing with impotence. It was also shown that there was an increase in fertility in men who had honey mixed with onion juice. What do you think guys? Sounds good to me! 🙂
Respiratory Improvements
Folks with any kind of respiratory issues such as asthma can be helped with specific vegetables and fruits. Onions can definitely help with a respiratory problem that you may be suffering with its anti-inflammatory properties. Who wouldn’t want to breathe easier?
Heart Health
Onions, red onions in particular, can help you with heart disease. They accomplish this because of their contents of flavonoids and organosulfurs. These help to prevent heart disease in the first place.
Onions also contain something called thiosulfinates and these are very important because they reduce your risk of stroke and heart attack because they act as natural blood thinners. Quercetin also fights heart disease. Onions are very heart healthy.
Cancer Killer
There has been a lot of research done and the results were confirmed that onions were effective in the killing off of colon cancer cells and breast cancer cells. They successfully did this with anthocyanin and quercetin, the two compounds that are responsible for it. Studies also showed that folks with the highest consumption of red onions had that lowest cancer rates.
Bone Health
Swiss researchers claimed that osteoporosis can be prevented by a compound in white onions called GPCS and it decreases bone loss. Consuming onions regularly after age 50 benefits a woman’s bone density.
==>>The Best Way to Lower Your Blood Sugar is with Curalin<<==
Oral Health
As I mentioned before about the sulfur compound thiosulfinates in onions, they are also beneficial in reducing bacteria in your mouth that are responsible for tooth decay. The vitamin C that onions contain is also helpful in keeping your teeth healthy.
The best way to have onions is raw because the compounds won’t be destroyed when cooking them. The downside of onions is bad breath, so you’ll want to wash your mouth out afterward. You don’t want bad breath at that next meeting!
Aging Process
If you want to prevent the premature aging of your skin because of the harmful ultra violet rays from the sun and also prevent free radical damage, then onions are your answer because of the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E. The antioxidant quercetin is powerful and will help to keep your skin free of wrinkles. Looking younger is always better!
Fever
Onion can be used to help cure a fever. I have cut an onion in half and put them on the bottom of my feet with my socks on overnight and the fever disappeared!
Nose Bleeds
There is a very easy and simple way to stop nose bleeds. All you have to do is to inhale an onion and this will either stop it or slow it down to make it better.
Caution About Onions
Blood Pressure
If you take medication for high blood pressure, you should be careful because onions can reduce your diastolic and systolic pressures.
Drastic Blood Sugar Drop
Since onions can lower your blood sugar you’ll want to exercise extreme caution by checking your blood glucose levels frequently especially if you’re consuming onions.
Heartburn
If you consume too many onions you run the risk of heartburn and this can also cause unfavorable effects to people with heart problems.
Sensitivity
If you happen to be allergic to onions, then you shouldn’t be having onions with aspirin because the aspirin will increase onion sensitivity. Talk to your doctor about this.
In Conclusion
The answer to: How are Onions Good For Diabetics should now be clear. There are many different ways and different foods such as onions that can help you with diabetes and lowering your blood sugar.
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Thank you!
I love onions and absolutely think they belong in most meals. Onions just create that special taste! I didnt know that onions were this good for me! I only knew about the immune system, but they do so much more! This will definitely help me convince everyone to add onions to their meals! thanks for this information!
Onions can be one of the healthiest foods you can eat. They go great with salads and soups.
I’ll admit that I’m not a big fan of onions but since they are so beneficial for your health, I try and get them mixed in somewhere 🙂
The bad breath they will give you is worth how healthy they are for you.
So never turn down the onions!
I used to fry the yellow onions with chicken. Will the onion still retain the health benefits after frying? The same goes to leek which is cooked for soup. Is the health benefit retained as well? I would hope so as I love them cooked this way and enjoy them as a healthy meal.
I like fried onions better than raw onions. They just taste better to me.
Raw onions are the healthiest but the good news is that as long as you don’t fry them for more than thirty minutes, you’ll be good to go.
But why would you cook them for that long anyway, right? 🙂
Thanks for commenting!
Thanks, Rob. Definitely not more than 30 minutes ?
I eat alot of south Asian cuisine and the base of those dishes are garlic and onions. So i think im doing pretty well.
But they are fried in oil for 20 – 30 mins before adding other stuff in there. Do you think i am still getting the nutrition as i would be from raw onions?
Hey there 🙂
Sounds like you are eating pretty well. Keep it up because it’s that important!
I’m not a big garlic or onion lover, but I do eat them because they are that healthy for me.
You can fry or cook onions anyway you want to and still get nutrition but you won’t get as much nutrition as having raw onions or raw garlic, but that doesn’t mean giving them up!
Thanks for commenting!
Cheers!
~Rob
Wow, I can not believe how many benefits there are to eating onions! Maybe if I have my husband read this article I can get him to let me put raw red onions in our salads now. He hates them and I love them!
The studies done concerning the effect the onions had on blood pressure and blood sugar were mind blowing too! I just did not know all these benefits before reading your article. I am for sure going to incorporate more onions into our diet after this, that’s for sure.
I am very interested in health and nutrition since both my husband and I have autoimmune diseases. We have to eat very carefully to keep our diseases under control. We are great believers in the effects of good nutrition on your health.
It’s too bad more American’s are not informed about things like you wrote about here. It’s sad how many people are either obese or very unhealthy, and the Doctors are not telling them these nutritional necessities to stay healthy or treat their problems. We need more people like you out there to get the word out! Keep on writing! Thanks, Angi
Hi Angi 🙂
I always knew that onions are healthy for you but for me I never liked onions until I found out how healthy they are and how they can help diabetes and blood sugars.
For one food to be as healthy as onions are is mind boggling.To help control your blood pressure too and provide so much nutrition, how could you not want to have them in your diet on a regular basis?
As far as I’m concerned the more I can help to educate people with diabetes on how to help it, the better.
Bring on those smelly onions! 🙂
Thank you for commenting!
Cheers!
~Rob