onion and garlic

Question
how many minutes should i cook onions to prevent losing its benefits,
will i get the best amount of it i eat it un- cooked, and when is the
best time to eat raw garlic to have its full benefits-before meal or
after meal? is it safe to eat raw gaelic and raw onions to an empty stomach? will it cause intestinal bleeding or ulcer? thanks a lot

Answer
Cooking any vegetable reduces its benefits so you will get the most health-related effects from raw vegetables.  This includes garlic and onions.  They may give you heartburn more often when eaten raw as opposed to cooking them but that changes from person to person.  Stir-frying or a rapid saute would be the least harmful to the beneficial aspect of garlic and onions.  Eating any food by itself will deliver the nutrients but I don't know of anything that would cause the garlic/onion nutrients not to be delivered equally as well when eaten with a meal.  

The only issue with bleeding or ulcers would be if you were on a blood thinner medication like Coumadin or aspirin.  Garlic and onions have a blood-thinning action which can boost the medication's effect and result in bleeding.  This would be more likely to occur in people with pre-existing stomach problems.

Thanks for your question, John.  I hope my answer was helpful.

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