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Add to FavoritesOnions not only give you bad breath, but the have properties that help cure cancer. Can an onion a day keep cancer away? Onions are related to garlic and belong to the genus of plants in the Allium group. Plants in this group have been used since the Egyptians to increase physical endurance and strength. These plants have been noted in medicine to kill bacteria, prevent blood clots, decrease lipids, treat arthritis and decrease blood sugar.
Onion, a flavonol, contains the powerful anti-oxidant, quercetin and myricetin. It is speculated that these antioxidants may work by inhibiting the mutation of genes, control enzyme activities, inhibit abnormal DNA formation, destroy free radicals, and effect inhibit cell proliferation and tumor growth and tumor blood vessel growth. Apigenin is a plant flavone also found onions, which has been shown to possess remarkable anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. Apigenin will soon be investigated for its chemopreventive properties. Apigenin was also shown to induce cell death in human breast cancer cells and inhibit tumor cell growth by 30% to 51%. In addition onions contain allyl sulfides that are bioactive and said to inhibit cancer cell growth.
A recent German study has shown in that onions significantly reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer in smokers. Quercetin in a small double blind study of patients with hereditary Polyposis of the colon has been shown to decrease the size and number of colon polyps by 60% with no significant side effects. The amount of quercetin used in this study was the amount, which would be ingested, in the normal diet. In a study of 36 patients who had their colon cancer surgically removed were given 20 mg of Apigenin with another flavonoid showed reduced rate of tumor recurrence.
A large data study has found and inverse relationship between the frequency of use of allium vegetables and the risk of several common cancers, e.g. oral cavity and pharynx, larynx, esophageal, colorectal and breast. The greater the frequency of ingestion of onions is associated with a lower the risk of development these cancers. A Netherlands study has similarly shown a decrease in the amount of stomach cancers with increased frequency of onions in the diet. Onions also are a chemoprevention agent that can be used to prevent, reverse or delay the development of cancer in patients with prostate cancer or increased risk for the disease. I am sure as research continues structural analysis of the flavones of onions will lead to the development of new drugs, which can be used as adjuvants in the treatment of cancer.
Reference:
Cruz-Correa M et al. "Combination Treatment With Curcumin and Quercetin of Adenomas in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis." Clinical Gastroenterology And Hepatology 2006; 4:1035-1038. http://www.pubmedcen tral.nih.gov/article render.fcgi?artid=27 03843 http://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pubmed/16388 813
Learn more about this author, Gloria S. Akande.
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No
Of course not. If they DID, the whole world would be cancer free, and onions going for a thousand dollars for just one. They will give you bad breath; make your pasta zestier, make a nice garnish for a salad, but help cure Cancer? No.
My grandfather had prostate cancer, my mom had a rare cancer caused by second hand exposure to asbestos, and I have Breast Cancer; if all it took to CURE cancer was onions, both of them would have become onion lovers at the drop of a hat. The only things that cure cancer are early detection, proper care, possibly surgery, and prayer.
Okay, prayer per se doesn't cure cancer, but I believe that when used along with everything else mentioned, its power is immense.
I must admit though that the idea of such a funky cure IS fascinating: farmers everywhere would be [technically] a part of the health care system. The entire idea brings lots of cutesy images to mind. Would Americans buy onions from Canada because they cost less to grow? Would there by onion start-up companies that had private stock go public, and then on to the New York Stock Exchange?
I'm not making fun of those with cancer mind you; that would be cruel, but the idea of onions helping to kill cancer cells, where even some chemotherapy drugs fail, ithe silliness is at my own expense, no one else's. I would eat a lot of French onion soup, eat grilled onions on all my sandwiches; put them in salads, and mix them in my breakfast scrambled eggs. I'm sorry, but I just can't get the mental picture of onions doing anything for a cancer patient, other than giving him/her bad breath, and give me a hankering for a Philly steak sandwich on a toasted roll, with onions. Not to mention the idea of patients growing their own "cure" food, or a doctor writing a prescription for an onion every 6 to 8 hours.
But all kidding aside, if onions truly cured cancer [there are SO many types of cancer], I'm sure successful clinically-proven trials would have been mentioned in "The New England Journal of Medical Science", where ground breaking scientific studies are often mentioned first. I'm sure such news would have spread globally, at the click of a mouse button. In fact, it would be in every newspaper, and the subject of multiple talk shows.
Perhaps people who have been diagnosed with cancer misinterpret the title of this topic in their daily lives as "onions CURE cancer". They MAY help your system deal with the disease in a better way, but that is not the same as saying it helps cure cancer. I just can't picture the enzymes or nutrients IN onions attacking and killing cells at all, much less cancerous ones. The only way to get a running start at destroying cancerous cells is to destroy any cells that help supply the bad cells with a growth system unique to that cancer itself. I currently take such a drug during my sessions at the cancer center I attend, and although it may have slowed the spread, it has NOT made the cancer go away. No matter how many reports have said onions cure cancer, they are wrong. For one thing, there are so many different types of cancer, to have just one thing miraculously work on them ALL, just isn't feasible. Lung cancer cells for example, are not the same as prostate cancer, or breast cancer cells.
Personally, I put my faith and trust in the hands of skilled doctors whose specialties are in one specific TYPE of cancer; I know they have my best interests at heart, and will help me any way they can. And THAT gives me hope.
Hope is better for one's spiritual health than any type of "food" will ever be.
Learn more about this author, Lisa Beach.
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