Onion (Allium cepa L.)

Allium cepa , commonly known as onion, represents a significant horticultural commodity with extensive global agricultural distribution, demonstrating remarkable adaptability across diverse ecological zones and agricultural systems worldwide. It has been identified as a food of great interest, given its nutritional and bioactive components and its high consumption rate all year round. The increasing demand for onions both for consumption and medicinal purposes has increased the need for breeding new cultivars with a high yield and quality. Great diversity in biochemical and nutritional composition was found in onion genotypes from different countries, highlighting the importance of onion consumption for human health. We report here a review of onion consumption benefits, their phytochemical composition that differs depending on the cultivation environments and onion part (peel, bulb or seed), and their antioxidative properties associated with health benefits and medicinal bioactivities, demonstrating the importance of this species as functional food.