Onion ( Allium cepa ) – Ethnomedicinal and therapeutic properties

Onion is one of the civilization’s oldest medicines and is described as the dynamite of natural foods. In the current day scenario, herbal medicines have gained global significance with both medicinal and cost-effective implications. Thus, scientific appraisal has turned out to be a prerequisite for recognition of physical fitness in nature. An exceptionally strong antioxidant, onion is the richest source of numerous compounds occupying the second position as an imperative vegetable grown and consumed all over the world. A unique combination of three families of compounds-fructans, flavonoids and organosulfur compounds that have salutary effects on human health probably attribute to the therapeutic properties of onion. Compounds from onions have a range of health benefits such as anti-carcinogenic, anti-platelet, anti-thrombotic, anti-asthmatic, anti-diabetic, fibrinolytic, antihelminthic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, lithontripic and hypo-cholesterolemic properties and other various biological actions including antibiotic effects. The bulb though used in food and culinary preparations since time Correspondence/Reprint request: Dr. R. Sathishkumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu – 641046, India. E-mail: [email protected] Ashwini M & Sathishkumar R 28 immemorial, acts as a home remedy for many infections, inflammations, respiratory and digestion problems. The wide-ranging gamut of biological activities in onion lay concrete on research to attest and discover an assortment of other novel therapeutic properties.