Onions, garlic and a range of other salad goods may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis - the crippling bone disease that affects one in three women, usually after the menopause. Reported researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland who conducted experiments on rats.
They said that 1g of onion a day can help prevent the process that causes the condition - resorption, where calcium seeps from the bones making them brittle. And 500mg mixed with garlic, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and parsley had a similar result.On a diet of onions the rats developed stronger bones and suffered less resorption, and the onions' effect on bones could be seen within 12 hours, the scientists said. If this also happens in humans, then including an appropriate amount of these vegetables in the daily diet could be an effective and inexpensive way to decrease the incidence of osteoporosis."
The next stage for the researchers is to identify which compounds in the onions has the positive effect, and to see if it will work in humans."We hope we have opened up a new field and that this will be a possibility to prevent osteoporosis provided it works in humans and that humans can eat sufficient amounts of this stuff," Dr Muhlbauer said.
They also said that eating too much salt can raise the blood pressure and that this, in turn, speeds up the body's loss of calcium that could then lead to osteoporosis
