Onions Nutritional Value

Are you a fan of onions? Is every one of your spicy recipes incomplete, without addition of chopped onions? Then you might want to check out onion's nutritional value. There are many varieties of onions and each one of them varies in its nutritional value. Before we go into onion's nutritional value, let's get to know a bit more about this vegetable.

Onion aka Allium
The botanical name of the most common garden variety onion is Allium Cepa. There are evidences of onion being a food source from as long back, as the Bronze age, about 5000 BC. So we can safely say, that onions are some of the oldest and most widely used vegetables in the world. Onion belongs to lily family, which is the same family to which garlic belongs. There are over 600 species of onion spread all over the world. To know more on history of onions, read, Onion - The Magic Bulb.

Onions are an inseparable part of cuisine ingredients, across most cultures around the world. Onions are probably the only vegetables in the world, that make you weep! If you are wondering why onions make you cry, then the reasons for that are sulphide compounds, which are released when you cut onions.

Depending on the taste, there can be different types of onions, pungent, sweet, or even tangy. They are grown underground, and are vertical shoots of the plant designed as food storage units.

Nutritional Value of Onions
There are hundreds of varieties of onions around the world. Here I list the nutritional value of onions of various types, used around the world!

Red Onion's Nutritional Value
Red onions are used in salads, barbecue, stews, soups, hamburgers, sandwiches and even meat dishes. They are available through out the year. Here is the breakdown of 160 gm of red onion's nutritional value.
A fresh, chopped lot of 160 gm of chopped red onions will have about 64 Kcal and the following is its nutritional value:

• Total Fat (Lipid) 16 gm
• Total Carbohydrate 14.94 gm
• Dietary Fiber 2.7 gm
• Total Sugars 6.78 gm
• Proteins 1.76 gm
• Vitamin A, Vitamin C (11.8 mg), vitamin B-12, Beta Carotene, Folate
• Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Zinc, Fluoride

White Onion's Nutritional Value
White onions or pearl onions are a sweeter variety compared to red onions, due to a high water content. They are eaten raw and served in burgers and salads and in soups like French onion soup. These type of onions are also available throughout the year. They have a low saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium content. A 100 gm white onion will give about 32 kcal of energy. The nutritional content in a 100 gm white onion would be as follows:

• 91.24 gm Water
• Protein 0.8 gm
• Dietary Fiber 0.9 gm
• Fat content 0.08 gm
• Total Sugars (Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose, Lactose) 5 gm
• Minerals like Potassium, Calcium, Phosphorous, Selenium
• Vitamin C, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B-6, Folate, Choline, Carotene

Green Onion's Nutritional Value
Green Onions or spring onions are basically onions which haven't matured and are uprooted early. Spring onion's nutritional facts are listed here. They are used in salads, soups, baking and in meat dishes. 100 gm of white onions will supply 27 Kcal of energy. The nutritional value of 100 gm raw green onions would be as follows:

• Water 91.24 gm
• Protein 0.8 gm
• Total Fat 0.08 gm
• Carbohydrate 7.55 gm
• Total Dietary Fiber 0.9 gm
• Sugars (Glucose , Fructose, Lactose) 5.02 gm
• Minerals like Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Manganese, Zinc, Selenium
• Vitamin C, Vitamin D , Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B-6, Folate, Folic Acid, Choline
• Amino Acids like Tryptophan, Threonine, Lysine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine , Valine

Yellow Onion's Nutritional Value
Yellow onions are also available throughout the year. They are used raw in salads, sandwiches, barbecues and in a variety of dishes and cuisines. The nutritional value of yellow onions is expounded here. About 160 gm of chopped yellow onions will supply around 64 Kcal of energy and have the following nutrients:

• Total Fat 1g
• Dietary Fiber 3gm
• Total Carbohydrate 15 gm
• Sugars 7 gm
• Protein 2gm
• Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Vitamin E, Vitamin K

Cooked Onion's Nutritional Value
Till now, we saw the nutritional value of onions in raw form. Cooking changes the nutritional content of any vegetable as its boiled and drained. Let us see the nutritional value of onions which have been boiled, drained and cooked. A 100 gm of such cooked onions will supply about 44 Kcal of energy. The nutritional value of 100 gm cooked onions is as follows:

• Water 87.86 gm
• Protein 1.36 gm
• Total Fat 0.19 gm
• Carbohydrate 10.15 gm
• Total dietary fiber 1.4 gm
• Sugars (Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose) 4.73 gm
• Minerals like Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper , Mangenese, Selenium
• Vitamin C, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B-6
• Folate, Beta Carotene
• Amino Acids like Trytophan, Threonine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Methionine, Cystine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Valine, Aginine, Histidine

Onion's Nutritional Benefits
After going through the onion's nutritional facts, listed above, there will be no doubt in your mind about nutritional abundance in onions. Since it is such a nutrients rich vegetable, onion's nutritional benefits are abundant. Here are some of the benefits of having onions as part of your diet:

• Eating onions boosts your appetite and prevents atherosclerosis.
• Onions extracts provide cures for cough, cold, bronchitis, as well as asthma.
• Onions can cause a marked reduction in bronchial spasms.
• Onion consumption reduces chances of colon cancer, stimulated growth of benevolent bifidobacteria and inhibits growth of potentially harmful bacteria in the abdominal tract
• An interesting nutrition fact about onions is that the sulphides contained in them can lower blood lipid levels and reduce blood pressure.
• Onions also prevent blood clotting and platelet clumping.

Hope, onion's nutritional information provided here prompts you to make it a part of your diet. The nutritional value of onions and great taste they provide are the reasons for onions being the second largest traded vegetable, after tomatoes. So, onion's nutritional value does make it worth all the tears ! Here's a tip, if you want to cut an onion without tears, peel it in cold water!