Red onion helps prevent Heart Disease

Scientists have stated that the humble red onion could help prevent heart disease.

They have discovered that the vegetable - commonly used in Mediterranean and Indian cuisine - helps remove bad cholesterol from the body, which can cause heart attacks and strokes.

At the same time red onions retain the body's good cholesterol, which help protect against heart disease.

Scientists in Hong Kong fed crushed-up red onions to hamsters, which had all been put on a high-cholesterol diet.

They found that after eight weeks levels of bad cholesterol, or low density lipoprotein (LDL), had dropped by an average of 20 per cent.

"This results support the claim that the regular consumption of onion reduces the risk of coronary heart disease," the Daily Mail quoted Zhen Yu Chen, who was in charge of the research carried out at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as saying.