Friends of Your Tastebuds: Onions
Friends of Your Tastebuds: Onions Heading link
Friends of Your Tastebuds: Onions
By Mwangi Wamaina
Salutations, friends. Our travels have taken us to the oats of Illinois, the avocados of California, the almonds of Egypt and now onwards to the state of Washington. In its grounds are found the persevering pinto abalone, the bashful boreal woodland caribou, the optimistic Olympic marmot and warlike Western rattlesnakes. Its soil supplies the silent shore pine, secluded Sitka spruce, proud ponderosa pines and the adaptable Alpine Larch. The fresh air is explored by the majestic marbled murrelet, the noisy Northern spotted owl, the babbling black-capped chickadee, and the humble house finch, while the ominous orca, the chattering chiselmouth, and the patrolling prickly sculpin monitor the refreshing waters. The state of Washington also serves as the leader of an important crop-the ovoid onion, providing over 25% of the nation’s onions in 2022. About 125,000 acres of land are used to produce onions in the U.S. Onions have been cultivated in such places as ancient Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, India, Greece and Rome as well as here in North America by nations such as the Cherokee, Ojibwa, and Iroquois. In addition to being food, onions have been used as funeral offerings, currency, wedding gifts, toys, and for dyes. Interestingly, the city of Chicago is named after the Ojibwa word zhigaagawanzh, meaning onion.
Onions contain many nutrients, one of which is rutin. “Rutin has been found to counteract several types of cancer through various mechanisms, e.g., inhibition of malignant cell growth, induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and modulation of angiogenesis, inflammation, and oxidative stress, all of which are mediated by regulating multiple cellular signaling pathways.” Most of the cells in the body are constantly being replaced. One cell normally splits into two through the process of either meiosis or mitosis. In the process of cell division, the cell undergoes different steps, known as prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, where the nucleus splits into two nuclei. (If the cell is a country, the nucleus is the capital city.) If cell division stops, new cells cannot be made. Likewise, if cells are dividing more than necessary, they cannot fulfill their role in the body. To regulate division, the cell has checkpoints to determine whether to proceed from one step to another. For example, if a car never moves, the destination is never reached; however, if the car is always moving and never stops, the destination is bypassed all together. So the body has checkpoints to determine if cell division will proceed from one phase to another. There are proteins that help to lean the pendulum towards cell division (putting on the gas pedal) and proteins that help to lean the pendulum against cell division (putting on the brakes). If there are too many genes that are “in support” of division or there are too few genes “against” division, cancer could result. Thus, rutin supports proper regulation of cell division. Rutin may have anticarcinogenic effects against leukemia, multiple myeloma, lymphoma, melanoma, breast, lung, colon, brain, liver, gastric, prostate, oral, cervical, and ovarian cancers. To be clear, this is not to say that eating onions is guaranteed to prevent or cure cancer, but that onions may be helpful in preventing it. More research will be needed in this area.
Onions can be found in the produce/vegetable section of most grocery stores. As of December 4, 2024, the retail price of onions was between US$ 0.43 and US$ 1.74 per pound. Green sprouting, mold, soft/slimy areas, and discoloration indicate that the onion is no longer fresh. Onions can last in a fridge for about 2 months, at room temperature for 3 months or more, and in a freezer for about 8 months. For consumption, onions can be boiled, baked, made into a syrup, used to flavor water, and added to “stews, roasts, soups, and salads”, though different cooking methods can affect the amount of nutrients lost from the onion. Well, now it’s time to eat!
Mwangi Wamaina is an M4 at UICOMR
mwamai2@uic.edu