Onion Medicine – Treating burns and cuts
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Almost everyone is familiar with the common onion. Its
supremely edible qualities have universally placed it in the kitchen or by the
campfire as a culinary additive or seasoning. However, few are actually aware of
the wonders of onion medicine and how this vegetable can help with various
health issues.
When it comes to onions, all parts of the plant (bulb,
leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds) can be eaten raw, cooked or in prepared
foods. What is not well known is the onion’s uses in medicine. The onion can
relieve pain and prevent infections.
The early Greeks and Egyptians were among the first to
recognize its medicinal values. Modern research has now detailed its usefulness
in the treatment of burns, cuts, wounds, and internal ailments.
Dioscorides, a Greek physician in first century A.D., noted
several onion
medicine practices. The Greeks used onions to fortify athletes
for the Olympic Games. Before competition,
athletes would consume pounds of onions, drink onion juice, and rub onions on
their bodies.
Historically, onion extracts have been utilized by doctors in India to treat victims of the bubonic plague centuries before the feeble attempts made by European medicine. In India as early as the sixth century B.C., the famous medical treatise Charaka – Sanhita celebrates the onion medicine – a diuretic, good for digestion, the heart, the eyes, and the joints.
Interestingly, the Japanese utilized onion extracts on
Hiroshima burn victims with favorable results.
To treat burns and scalds, slice a fresh onion bulb in half
and squeeze the juice directly onto the burn. The juice will instantly relieve
the pain. Daily applications of onion juice or a soothing compress of onion
paste on a burn, aids in its healing.
Onion juice not only aids in healing extensively burned
skin, but it also helps to reduce the formation
of ugly scar tissue as well.
For cuts and wounds, cotton swabs soaked in onion or garlic
(the onion’s closest cousin) juice makes an effective antiseptic and
antibacterial bandage. Just tape into place and immobilize the injury. Studies
have shown that infectious bacteria resistant to other antibiotics will succumb
readily to onion juice.
In China, a daily cup of hot onion leaf tea is prescribed to patients suffering from
various heart ailments. The tea has been found to help decrease the condition
that causes hardening of the arteries.
A paste made of crushed bulbs can quickly relieve the pain
of toothache, and the stings of insects
such as bees, wasps, ants, and hornets. Also,
it can be applied to ulcers, boils, and various skin diseases or infections,
lowering painful inflammation and swelling.
Even today, onion or garlic bulb distillation is a major
business enterprise. The fine oil extract is
used in the preparation of medical shampoos for treating dandruff and
alopecia.
For those persons who suffer a lot from the common cold or chest congestion, they would do well to drink a cup of hot onion tea each day. The tea assists in loosening up stopped sinuses and unplugging the bronchial system. This same dosage of tea will clean out any bladder problems too.
What kind of magical principles does the onion possess to be
so medically promising?
Phytochemical analysis
of the whole plant reveals the following beneficial properties: volatile oils, diallyl disulfide (the onion’s distinctive
smell), vitamins A and C, glycosides (fallicin
and glucokinin), starch, pectin and
several trace minerals such as sulfur, magnesium, sodium, potassium and iron.
Fallicin is a germ
killer. It is especially bactericidal to pathogens or germs that live in the
soil. A derivative of fallicin has been produced for use in controlling infectious
bronchial diseases caused by Mycobacterium cepae,
a respiratory oriented germ.
Glucokinin, a plant hormone, has seen use as an oral insulin to lower blood sugar levels in
the treatment of diabetes. It has been credited
as being the stimulating agent that speeds up the healing of injured or damaged
animal tissue. What was once seen as only
folklore, onion medicine is getting more and more recognition due to various
scientific studies.
The importance of onions or garlic to medicine ranges from
simple first aid for burns and wounds, to the more complex therapy of
infectious diseases and cancer. Studies have shown that continuous applications
of onion or garlic juice upon malignant tumors can retard their development. In
some cases, these daily applications have been known to prevent tumor
reappearance or formation.
Taken internally, a small amount of onion or garlic juice
will stimulate faulty digestion, increase bile secretion, lower blood pressure,
and reduce blood sugar levels.
In larger doses, the juice will expel intestinal parasites
from the digestive tract. Although breathing or contact with the irritating
fumes of the volatile oils in onion juice will involuntarily cause the eyes to
water, this unpleasant side effect has a
great benefit to an injured person.
The act of crying actually
gives the patient a definite edge in the healing process. Crying releases
enzymes and hormones directly into the bloodstream, helping to accelerate scab
forming and the regeneration of tissue in severe wounds. Furthermore, crying
relieves pain and alleviates the extreme psychological stress experienced by
the badly injured.
Easy to cultivate, the onion should be included in everyone’s
diet. Onions provide those essential vitamins needed to combat scurvy and provide relief from the misery of
the common cold.
Onions have a use in the garden as a natural insecticide. If grown with carrots and beets, onions or
garlic will naturally repel parasitic flies.
Organic garden sprays can be
made from the diluted bulb juice. A homemade mosquito repellent can be made from the onion juice. Applied cautiously to bare skin, the results
are somewhat mixed as apparently some
mosquitoes are very attracted to the odor. Sprayed upon plants, it does repel
pests.
Onions can be found growing in the wild. They are
commonplace in all parts of the world and
can be seen in open, rich soils of the
lowlands on stream or river banks, in fields, and pastures, and in the shaded,
rocky soils of hillsides and mountain ranges.
The wild onion likes to grow in dense colonies in favorable
soils. An herby plant, the wild onion is
much like its domesticated kin with white-pink
flowers arising from a single flowering stalk that emerges from a bulb.
Bulbs (modified stems) may vary in size, from the tiny
‘h-inch to the larger 4-inch diameters, and are covered individually with a
thin, papery sheath. Its leaves are long, narrow, onion-scented, somewhat
fleshy, and in clumps surrounding the flowering stalk. The stalk may reach a
height of 18 inches. Cut or slashed leaves and bulbs ooze a cleat mucous-like
onion flavored sap.
Flowers are in a showy cluster 1 to 5 inches across the top of the stalk. Each flower is small and has six petals of equal size and color. The flowering period is in early spring to late fall depending upon rainfall conditions and altitude. Fruits are small 3-lobed capsules and may contain numerous shiny, black seeds.
Closely related to garlic, leeks, chives, and shallots, the
onion (Allium) is a member of the lily family
and has many cousins resembling it. A few are very poisonous, such as the death
camas (Zigadenus) and the star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum).
They can be superficially confused with large onions, garlic or leeks. A good rule to remember when
collecting wild onions for food or for onion
medicine is: If an onion type of plant does not smell or taste distinctly like
an onion, then do not use it.
Never take a chance, as it is far better to be absolutely sure than to be made violently sick or worse. While onions are good food and are useful in the treatment of diseases, they do have certain side effects the reader should be made aware of. For like all good things, the onion has a bad side to it.
A person who has a steady diet of onions may develop an anemia-like condition especially if he is
allergy prone. Take away the onions and more than likely he will return to
normal health.
Too many onions for dinner can so upset the digestive system
the individual may suffer great pain, excessive gas build-up, and unpleasant diarrhea. Raw onions can be very irritating.
Cooking them will usually lessen this misery.
Lastly, a daily overdosage
of onions or garlic in the diet can alter the chemical composition of an
individual’s sweat into that of a strong,
foul-smelling stench. This fetid odor will permeate his clothing, lingering
upon anything he handles or touches.
No amount of deodorants or perfume can suppress it either. None of these side effects are fatal in nature, but they can literally raise havoc with one’s social life. The last side effect mentioned can guarantee a vacant seat on any overly crowded subway train or city bus.
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Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation
I had a Green Beret(Special Forces) trainer once. He grew up in the desert southwest. He told us that if bitten by a rattlesnake and help was too far away or unavailable, to cot an onion in half and place over the puncture holes. He said the onion would turn green as it drew the poison out. He said keep changing out onions with fresh ones, until the patient recovers. I have never tried this, but for some strange reason I always find space in my bag for onions.
Eat the onions, you can’t draw poison out of a snakebite by any method. Keep calm and get to a hospital asap, North American venomous snakes inflict a very painful bite but death in almost all cases is from shock or infection. A snake eater oughta know that…
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Onion Medicine – Treating burns and cuts
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