This viral trend draws on onion’s long-held reputation as a natural remedy, a belief that goes way back. Whether, brown or red, the most important thing is cut your onion as thinly as possible.
On TikTok, recommendations for preparing “onion water” are clear and precise. Tagged with the “onion water” hashtag, this new online craze is already a viral hit, with more than 23 million views.
To date, the most popular post alone has been viewed over two million times. In each such video, TikTokers basically share the same trick, which involves slicing an onion before plunging the pieces into filtered water.
The drink must then be kept for at least 12 hours in the refrigerator, if not overnight. It is then intended to relieve coughs, to unblock sinuses and help get rid of colds more quickly.
According to some users’ videos, you could even get over the flu faster by sipping this concoction. And, according to some enthusiastic comments, onion water could even help bring down a fever…
The proliferation of videos about this so-called hack could be a result of the current medical context.
The US, where most of these videos are shot, is currently grappling with a triple health crisis of illness linked to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, (responsible for bronchiolitis), as well as Covid-19 and the flu.
According to CNN, the flu epidemic has reached its highest level in the last decade in the US.
This worrying situation has even found a name in the media: “tripledemic” – a contraction of “triple” and “epidemic,” referring to the combined effects of the three infections currently putting the American health system on alert.
An age-old remedy
While there were already videos showing users how to prepare onion water, posts on the theme noticeably started multiplying at the end of October, when RSV, flu and Covid-19 started to rise.
The reason the onion was picked as the remedy of choice in these videos is precisely because of its decongestant powers, which can be useful for all three of the aforementioned ailments.
But reaching for onions as a natural solution to ill-health is nothing new. Traditional folklore – straight out of granny’s repertoire – has, for example, long recommended sleeping next to a cut onion. This should be placed on your nightstand, or even in your socks, according to tradition.
And so it seems that crazy life hacks were already doing the rounds long before TikTok… From onion tea to onion syrup to relieve coughs, natural recipes based on this kitchen staple have been around for a very long time.
In fact, whether it’s TikTok or granny’s age-old wisdom, these remedies drawn on the various benefits of the onion.
Not only does this vegetable stimulate the immune system, but its decongestant powers are also promoted by homeopathy, with the Allium Cepa formula based on fresh onion.
In pellets or ointment form, this homeopathic remedy treats both hay fever and seasonal rhinitis.
As for the onion water touted on TikTok, it’s another matter entirely.
Internet users can feel like their symptoms are relieved because they may cough and/or cry when they chop onions.
“There is not a lot of clear science behind it. … It has been around for a very long time, but there isn’t clear research showing that it has a benefit for your average person for coughs, colds and flus,” Dr Kitty O’Hare, senior medical director for pediatrics at Duke Primary Care, told TODAY.com.
In conclusion, she continues, “onions can make you cry. … When we encounter something that has a strong odour, our body’s defence system causes a little loose mucus, and we get a runny nose and runny eyes.”
But this reaction is only temporary, she continues, it does not actually relieve any symptoms, or help the body to recover more quickly from an infection.
Still, all of that is unlikely to silence TikTok… let alone your granny.