Onion Bulb: A Nutritional Pouch

“In exchange for a few tears, you can take a lot of health benefits from onion”

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Onion worshiped by the Egyptians as far back as 3500 B.C., the onion symbolized eternity because of its concentric-circular construction, in today's world with scientific advances we understood why onion symbolized eternity. In the world food preparations Onion (Allium cepa) is the most commonly used ingredients for food preparations, especially in tropical countries. Although it is classified as a vegetable, it has special qualities as a condiment, which add to taste and flavour to food and hence it is mainly used in India for cuisine and culinary preparations. Besides adding a delicious taste and flavour, onion serves as a good medicinal compound for cataract, cardiovascular disease, and cancer due to its hypocholesterolemic, thrombolitic and antioxidant effects as stated by many researchers. Onions are rich in powerful sulfuric compounds, responsible for their pungent odor and for irritating our. Onions eyes are consuming in different ways like uncooked form to value added onion produtcs such as onion flakes and other dehydrated onion products. Nutritional Composition and Health Benefits of Onion Onion bulb contains water (89.1% w/w), carbohydrate (9.3% w/w), protein (1.1% w/w), fat (0.1% w/w) and vitamin, minerals, and bioactive compounds. The potential health benefits of onion are mainly associated with its bioactive compounds. Bioactive compounds of onion are classified into three groups

1. Organo sulfurs compounds

2. Flavonoids and phenolics compounds

3. Sapogenins and saponins.