Onion Extract Lowers High Blood Sugar Up to 50%

The extract also lowered total cholesterol levels…

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The findings are based on experiments involving diabetic rats also given the antidiabetic drug metformin.

Lead researcher Anthony Ojieh, M.D., of Delta State University in Abraka, Nigeria, added that, "Onion is cheap and available and has been used as a nutritional supplement."

For the study, researchers fed three groups of rats with medically induced diabetes metformin and varying doses of onion extract to see if it would enhance the drug’s effects. They also gave metformin and onion extract to three groups of non-diabetic rats with normal blood sugar, for comparison.

The results showed two doses of extract from onion bulbs strongly reduced fasting blood sugar levels in diabetic rats by 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively, Ojieh reported. It also lowered the total cholesterol level in diabetic rats, with the two larger doses again having the greatest effects.

"We need to investigate the mechanism by which onion brought about the blood glucose reduction," Ojieh said. "We do not yet have an explanation."

Presented at The Endocrine Society’s 97th annual meeting March 2015