Instead of going to the store to buy VapoRub, influencers put onions on their chest to get rid of persistent cough.
In a TikTok from earlier this month, Amoreena McNally, a radiologic technologist, said she had been suffering from a dry, painful cough since late August, and felt like there was something in her chest “that needed to come out.”
The mother said she had tried traditional medicine, and had taken inhalers and a pill prescribed by a doctor to cure herself, but nothing worked.
So he decided to try a home flu remedy recommended by an Amish social media creator, who recommended putting slices of raw onion on your chest and covering them with a Ziploc bag filled with hot water.
For the first time in three months, McNally said he “felt something was coming,” adding, “It may sound silly, but I’m going to trust the Amish people.”
But just as quickly as she found relief, her symptoms returned. Once the vegetables were gone from his chest, his cough returned.
She is not alone. McNally’s video, which has 1.1 million likes, is flooded with comments from users who claim that putting a piece of onion in your sock or on your chest can help “draw toxins out of the body” and overcome a cold faster.
But doctors, like Dr. Jen Caudle, a New Jersey-based family medicine specialist, said there is no science behind these claims.
On her TikTok, Dr. Caudle said: “Onions won’t do that, okay? Just putting onions in your socks, sleeping with them, etc., won’t necessarily eliminate toxins or make you less sick or anything like that. Remember, we have our organs to get rid of toxins.’
Amoreena McNally said using the onions on her chest gave her temporary relief from what had been a three-month cough. However, he said his symptoms returned after using it and he will see his doctor again.
Arizona-based mom and influencer Rachel Sheppick shared a video placing a slice of red onion in her stocking in 2022. She said this can “help us stay healthy and detoxify” during cold and flu season. In response to a commenter, Sheppick said: “I know it seems strange, but it totally works.”
This is just the latest in a series of home remedies for common mistakes that have become popular online.
In recent years, influencers have recommended putting potatoes in your socks while you sleep, eating raw garlic, and drinking ice water with sliced onions to overcome illness.
Onion advocates claim that the vegetable has natural properties that attract and kill bacteria. Experts say this is false.
Dr. Thomas Moore, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Kansas, previously told DailyMail.com that even if these remedies make people feel better, it could be because the virus was already running its course.
‘All these coughs and colds last about five days, for the typical respiratory virus. “It can persist, but it usually goes away within five days,” he said.
“So when something gets better, people attribute it to the remedy they chose and start to trust it.”
To date, there are no scientific studies to support this statement.
The National Onion Association issued a statement saying: “Cold and flu viruses are transmitted by contact, not by floating in the air where the onion can supposedly attract or destroy them.”
The NOA traced the claim that onions can cure diseases as far back as the 16th century, when people claimed that placing the bulb in the room could prevent people from contracting the bubonic plague.
About 34 million Americans get the flu each year and millions more get a cold or upper respiratory illness, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
For centuries, people have claimed that the natural properties of onions can draw germs out of the air and kill them, eliminating household illnesses and helping someone get sicker. according to snopes.
In McNally’s video, A user named Shauna shared the same sentiment: ‘onions absorb germs. I used to put sliced onions on the children’s bedside tables when they were sick.
It seems that people also believe that skin-to-skin contact can eliminate unspecified diseases or “toxins” from your body.
For many people who become ill with one of these viruses, there are no specific treatments. As a result, doctors often send people home with instructions for rest, hydration, and over-the-counter pain relievers, hoping that, in most healthy people, the disease will run its course.
This leads many people to resort to their own treatments.
Of the many home cold and flu treatments Dr. Moore has seen, including onion water and forehead pressure, he said, “Does it work?” Probably not. But it’s supportive care that makes people feel better and like they’re doing something.
“In terms of scientific data, there are no compelling scientific papers that say these remedies work, but if they make you feel better, that’s what these remedies are about.”
Still, Dr. Caudale and Dr. Moore recommend seeing your doctor first before relying on items you may already have in your pantry.
Dr. Caudale said on her TikTok.: ‘Consult your doctor, because there are many things we can do, natural remedies and medications to help you overcome whatever you are facing.’
For McNally, the onion remedy itself was not so simple.
Although he felt relief when using it, he shared follow up videos that his symptoms returned, and at the insistence of his followers, he planned to go to the doctor to get an x-ray for fear of pneumonia.
‘After making that video last night and all the comments, I called (the doctor) again. And now I’m going to get a chest x-ray, just because I’m scared now.’