Quercetin helps lose weight and prevent dementia! Yellow onion, white onion, purple onion, which one is the best?

"Boss, please give me a hamburger with eggs." "Okay, can I have onions and tomatoes?" For many people, hamburgers with eggs are the best choice for breakfast. If the meal includes lettuce, don't miss onions. The quercetin component in onions can help with weight loss and prevent dementia, and it has many nutritional benefits. However, there are many types of onions on the market, which color has the highest quercetin content? Let’s see the nutritionist’s analysis.

Quercetin helps reduce weight by reducing lipid synthesis

Zheng Huiwen, a nutritionist from the New Nutrition Food Generation team, said that quercetin is a flavonoid compound that is mainly found in fruits and vegetables, such as onions, apples, citrus fruits, berry juice, etc. It not only has antioxidant, cardiovascular protection, and anti-neuropathic disease effects, but also has good preventive and improvement effects on the two common diseases of modern people, "obesity" and "dementia".

Studies have found that quercetin can reduce the expression of genes such as lipid synthesis and lipid transport metabolism, and can enhance mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle, making fatty acid oxidation metabolism smoother. A study recruited 72 obese adults, half of whom were in a control group taking a placebo, and the other half were in an intervention group taking 100 mg of onion peel extract (quercetin) capsules. After 12 weeks, it was found that the weight of the intervention group had decreased significantly.

The flavonoid family is so powerful! Quercetin can also protect the brain and prevent dementia

In terms of preventing dementia, quercetin is a flavonoid compound that has the function of protecting brain nerves, maintaining blood flow to the brain, and has the ability to promote memory, learning and cognitive functions.

A 2007 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology evaluated the dietary data of 1,640 elderly people aged 65 and above who did not suffer from dementia through a food frequency questionnaire and found that the intake of flavonoids was highly correlated with better cognitive function, indicating that the intake of flavonoids has a positive effect on neurocognition.

A comparison of different onions: which one has the most quercetin?

Although quercetin is widely found in various fruits and vegetables, the most well-known one is onion. Nutritionist Zheng Huiwen said that among all types of onions, yellow onions and purple onions have higher quercetin content, especially purple onions, which contain about 1,910 mg of quercetin per kilogram, ranking first. Compared with other fruits, the quercetin content of cranberries per kilogram is only 380 mg, blueberries 73 mg, and apples 44 mg.

Unfortunately, the onion skin, which contains the highest quercetin content, is often peeled off and thrown into the trash before cooking. In addition, the total amount of quercetin consumed by people in different countries ranges from about 5 mg to 80 mg per day. It is quite difficult to achieve the weight loss or dementia prevention effects in scientific experiments by eating onions.

Don’t waste quercetin by eating onions! Follow the nutritionist's lead!

Even so, onions are still one of the good sources of quercetin. What's rare is that quercetin is heat-stable and easily soluble in lipids. Therefore, nutritionist Zheng Huiwen recommends that when cooking quercetin-rich onions, you can use an appropriate amount of cooking oil to cook or mix them cold to increase the absorption rate of quercetin.

In addition, animal experiments have shown that the combined effects of quercetin and resveratrol can reduce the number of fat cells. Therefore, it is recommended that onions can be cooked together with foods rich in resveratrol, such as red wine, boiled peanuts, grapes, mulberries, etc.

[Nutritionist's creative recipe - red wine, oil and vinegar onion rings]

Ingredients: 50g red onion, 10g olive oil, 5g red wine vinegar, 10g peanut granules.

practice:

1. After cutting the onion rings, chill them in ice water for about 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the sauce in the ratio of "olive oil: red wine vinegar = 2:1". You can also adjust the ratio according to your personal preference.

3. Take out the chilled onion rings, drain them, drizzle them with red wine vinaigrette, and finally sprinkle with peanuts.

4. You can also add seafood, chicken breast and other high-quality protein foods according to your personal preference to increase the portion and taste.

Reminder: Peanuts are rich in resveratrol, but the content of resveratrol will be reduced due to processing. Therefore, it is recommended to choose fresh peanuts and avoid processed products such as fried or candied peanuts. In addition to retaining more resveratrol, it can also reduce unnecessary calorie sources. In addition, peanuts are a type of nut seed, and one serving contains about 13 grams, so you need to be careful about the amount you consume to avoid adding too many calories.

【Nutritionist’s Tips】

Onions are gas-producing foods. People with poor gastrointestinal function and prone to bloating need to pay attention to the amount of onions they consume. In addition, onions are rich in antiplatelet aggregation substances. Therefore, when using coagulation-related drugs, you should avoid eating large amounts of onions to avoid affecting the effects of the drugs.