Allium cepa L.Effects on Proliferation of Cancer Cells and Adipocytes via Inhibiting Fatty Acid Synthase

Allium vegetables have been employed for a long time in traditional medical practice to treat a variety of diseases. Onion (Allium cepa L.), one of the representative Allium vegetables, has been used for centuries for its pungency, flavoring value, and medicinal properties. The bulb of onion is used medicinally and has been consumed as seasoning food for many centuries (Sengupta et al., 2004). Phytochemical research has proved that onion is rich in flavonols and organosulfur compounds, which have exhibited tumor inhibitory properties in laboratory studies (Virtanen and Matikkala, 1976; Block, 1985; Arabbi et al., 2004). High intakes of onions have been directly associated with the management and prevention of obesity (Lee et al., 2008). Onion extract supplementation reduced the amounts of mesenteric fat and influenced the adipokine production at a transcriptional level in the high-fat induced obese animal model (Kim et al., 2012). Onion extracts reduced blood low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol of high-fat feeding Sprague-Dawley rats (Lee et al., 2012). Some researchers investigated the anti-obesity activity of a 70% ethanol extract from Allium fistulosum L. (commonly known as Chinese onion) in high-fat induced obese mice. The extracts significantly reduced body weight, white adipose tissue weight and adipocyte size of the treated mice compared to high-fat induced control mice (Sung et al., 2011).