Dear Onion,
Kitchen medicine
About 10 years ago I suffered a little cycling accident that left behind some damage on my face. I dreaded wearing a forever scar. As a 30-year old artist I was a single, low-income earning, non-insurance having adult with a Doctors Book of Home Recipes influenced upbringing. I looked at any and every natural cure for wounded skin that I could find and that research began my nutritional education. I was slathering myself in coconut oil, vitamin E, lemon juice and aloe vera that I could snag outside my apartment in Venice, California. What clicked immediately was that the elements which support healing on the skin were the same that nurture the digestive system. You need to put onto you what you would put inside of you. That which dresses my salad serves as my facial (massages kale, then with olive oily, lemony fingers massages face). Years later, pursuing my master’s degree in human nutrition, I can confirm these initial physiological hunches. The GI tract consists of cells that are constantly regenerating, as they get sloughed off by all the food bits they process. These cells need daily nourishment of water soluble vitamins (B & C) to maintain health and intestinal integrity.
ah, onion!
Back when I was nursing my face scrape, I had read that the trademark product Mederma was simply synthesized onion extract. So I grated fresh onion and applied the juice onto my scar as a toner; it was a cheap, easy, tearful experiment and the glow was worth the smell.
What I know now is that quercetin, the active constituent of the aforementioned scar aiding product, is a flavonoid (flavonoid = food particle that supports a healthy and diverse microbiome²) and hefty antioxidant prevalent in onions. If you stop by the antioxidant section of your local health food store, you’ll see plenty of quercetin labeled products. Quercetin prevents fibrosis, or the accumulation of excess scar tissue.¹ The studies supporting quercetin’s ability to mitigate scarring and aid wound healing are numerous. More recent studies are finding that quercetin works in the prevention of fibrosis in the lung tissue associated with respiratory infections caused by COVID-19.³ There’s been research suggesting that quercetin is effective against liver fibrosis and inflammation, which is how cirrhosis and fatty liver manage to damage.⁴ The sulfur in onions supports the synthesis of glutathione (where? In the liver, of course!) which we know to be the mother of antioxidants. If you imagine the aging process as a general inflexibility that inhabits the body both physically and mentally, incorporating onion into the daily food regime is a way to stay pliable while growing older. The food itself provides nutrients that keep organs operating effectively, but knowing that you are using them to do so on a daily basis also reminds us to maintain emotional flexibility. Almost every meal starts with an onion and Mother Nature must have designed it that way.
You get the greatest quercetin dose with red onions, and consuming it raw packs the most potency. If your palate declines the intensity of raw flavor, consider a quick pickle. Soak chopped onions in apple cider vinegar (which also contains quercetin!) with a little sugar or honey, and add to any dish: salad, grain bowl, sandwich, oysters, get creative! I use an aged apple cider vinegar, so no need for extra sugar. An aged balsamic might be nice too. Lemon juice will work. Maybe add jalapenos? Otherwise onions love to be roasted, grilled, sautéed or carmelized. Let me know how YOU use onion daily :)
Bloom sweetly,
Gina
Doersch KM, Newell-Rogers MK. The impact of quercetin on wound healing relates to changes in αV and β1 integrin expression. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2017;242(14):1424-1431. doi:10.1177/1535370217712961
Lin R, Piao M, Song Y. Dietary Quercetin Increases Colonic Microbial Diversity and Attenuates Colitis Severity in Citrobacter rodentium-Infected Mice. Front Microbiol. 2019;10:1092. Published 2019 May 16. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.01092
Önal H, Arslan B, Üçüncü Ergun N, et al. Treatment of COVID-19 patients with quercetin: a prospective, single center, randomized, controlled trial. Turk J Biol. 2021;45(4):518-529. Published 2021 Aug 30. doi:10.3906/biy-2104-16
Li X, Jin Q, Yao Q et al. The Flavonoid Quercetin Ameliorates Liver Inflammation and Fibrosis by Regulating Hepatic Macrophages Activation and Polarization in Mice. Front Pharmacol. 2018;9. doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.00072
