No, Having Raw Onions And Salt Cannot Cure Coronavirus

Fact-Check | There is no data or study to prove that onions can be used as therapy/cure for COVID-19. 

(Photo: The Quint)

A claim going viral on the internet says that having raw onions and Himalayan salt (pink) (Sendha Namak) can cure one of COVID-19 and make them test negative for the virus.

However, we found that while onion has some antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory qualities, there is no data or study to prove that onions can be used as therapy/cure for COVID-19.

CLAIM

The claim that is going viral on the internet has a caption in Hindi that read, “सेंधा नमक के साथ कच्ची प्याज छीलकर खाने से 15 मिनिट बाद लोग पॉजिटिव से निगेटिव हो रहे हैं। खा लेने में भी क्या बुराई है आडियो सुने |”

[Translation: If one eats peeled raw onion with rock salt, people will turn negative from positive after 15 minutes. Listen to it, there is no harm in eating it.]

The claim was also sent to us on WhatsApp in the form of an audio file. We also found that a similar claim was viral in 2020 as well. More such posts on Facebook can be found here and here.

An archive of the project can be found here. (Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The post can be seen being shared on Twitter here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

We looked for information about eating onions and salt as a cure for COVID-19 on the World Health Organization’s website and didn’t find any mention of the same. The WHO has also asked people to state caution while considering 'traditional' or home remedies as a treatment for COVID-19.

As of 19 April 2021, neither the WHO nor the health authorities in India have advised any home remedy as a cure for COVID-19. Scientists from Germany have hypothesised about the use of onions in the treatment of COVID-19 but so far no experiments have been conducted to prove the hypothesis.

The Quint reached out Dr S Krishnaswamy, co-founder of Indian Scientists Response to COVID-19, and Retired Professor of Bioinformatics, Madurai Kamraj University, who told us that the claim was not true.

Dr Krishnaswamy said that while onion and garlic have compounds that show antiviral activity, they can’t cure COVID-19 or make one test negative immediately.

“The problem with these types of "remedies" is they do not have evidence of working but leads to a false sense of protection. The people then fail or become lax in following known measures of protection,” he added.

According to Health Desk, a COVID-19 resource for journalists powered by public health experts, “onions are also known to have some antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory qualities, but studies are limited. To date, there are no studies that evaluate onions as a therapy for COVID-19, and there is no scientific evidence to suggest that onions will prevent, treat, or cure COVID-19.”

Therefore, the claim that eating raw onions and salt can cure one of COVID is false, there is no evidence or study to prove that.

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