Strong-flavored onions might give you a smelly breath, but they hold a great potential for fighting cancer.
In preliminary lab studies, Cornell University researchers have found that members of the onion family with the strongest flavor, especially New York Bold, Western Yellow and Shallots, are the best inhibitors of liver and colon cancer cells.
"No one knows yet how many daily servings of onions you'd have to eat to maximize protection against cancer, but our study suggests that people who are more health-conscious might want to go with the stronger onions rather than the mild ones," study leader Rui Hai Liu, a chemist with Cornell's Department of Food Science, said.
The new study which will appear in the Nov. 3 print issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, is believed to be the first one to compare cancer-fighting abilities among commonly consumed onion varieties.
Liu and his associates analyzed 10 common onion varieties and shallots for total antioxidant activity and their ability to fight the growth of cancer in human cell lines and found that Shallots and onion varieties with the strongest flavor, had the highest total antioxidant activity, an indication that they may have a stronger ability to destroy charged molecules called free radicals, an excess of which are thought to increase the risk of disease, particularly cancer.
The researchers also found that onions showed better results in tests against colon cancer cells, than liver cancer cells.