Can raw onion prevent the flu? For years I’ve been throwing out left over raw onions because I once heard they absorb germs and bacteria in the air and who the hell wants to eat a bacteria bomb? Last night I’m staring down my raw onion below, and decide to go see what those onion people had as an update on this! NOT TRUE. The onion peeps had a very clear update on this wives tale that dates back as far as the 1500s. Back then those ‘wives telling tales’ claimed that placing cut raw onions in rooms throughout a residence could protect its occupants from getting the bubonic plague. Long before germs were discovered, the dominant belief was contagious diseases were spread by miasma, or “noxious air.” While false, this belief remained part of folk medicine through the 19th century claiming to ward off epidemics like smallpox, influenza, and other “infectious fevers.” SO…According to the National Onion Association : ‘There is no scientific evidence that a cut raw onion absorbs germs or rids the air of toxins/poisons.’ Therefore a raw onion cannot prevent the flu. (This onion is now in the garbage anyway.)
PS Cannot figure out how to rotate my onion photo. Sorry I tried.
