Flu Fact #4: Cutting an onion will attract and kill airborne viruses

This “old country doctor” story goes something like this: cut an onion and leave it sitting out around your home. It will attract and kill all of the germs in the air, and prevent you from getting sick. Because they collect and kill toxic germs, onions are poisonous if you let them sit out too long.

This one is FALSE. Cutting an onion in a room does NOT magically catch and prevent germs. It’s an internet classic that makes its rounds every year, and some people believe in this theory. That’s probably because onions really ARE a fantastic historic remedy, and are amazingly gifted at helping prevent and treat common illnesses. Leaving them cut and laying around the house is NOT going to prevent illness (as some of the ladies on the Herbal Chick Chat group attested to). It might kill a germ that lands on it randomly, but it’s not a germ magnet, and it won’t clean the air in your home. It will only make it onion scented.

But it IS easy to use onions and garlic in the REAL way they’ve been used through history to support health, and to address sore throats, ear aches, and more using what the old timers called an onion poultice. And you can learn the way use garlic remedies here.

Dr. Rob says: I agree with this completely with the above. This is indeed a myth. However, onions can play a role in preventing  cold, flu and various disease.

This is largely due to the compounds they contain such as, sulfoxides, thiosulfinates and odorous cysteine sulfoxides—makes you cry when you cut them. Collectively, these compounds are toxic to harmful organisms, play a role in cancer and heart disease prevention, and accordingly act as a great immune-supporting foods for general disease prevention and health.

Last but not least: Flu Fact #5

You can catch the flu more than once in a season

Is this true? Click to find out!