CLAIM:
Consuming onions in Coca-Cola can cure diabetes and significantly reduce high blood sugar levels.

FACT:
While onions may help regulate blood sugar due to their beneficial compounds, consuming them in Coca-Cola is ineffective and counterproductive because of the high sugar content in the beverage.

One of our First Check readers sent us a Facebook post on our newly launched WhatsApp tipline, which said that consuming onions with Coca-Cola could help control diabetes, and asked us to verify the claims.

The post was shared by a dubious page- a user called Ldanmewi with only 50 followers on Facebook. They claim to be a criminal lawyer based in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and have shared a contact number with a Ukraine country code. However, the post itself is in Hindi.

"Mix Coca-Cola with onions and you'll forget about diabetes forever... In just one day, excess sugar will be removed from blood," reads the post.

The post claims that diabetes disrupts the production of Potassium-12 and insulin, and onions help restore the potassium balance. They also have a link with the post, which they claim has the recipe of how to make the Coca-Cola and onion mocktail, but instead takes you to a website that appears to be selling some so-called Ayurvedic drug to control diabetes.

Even though the page that posted it does not have many followers, the post itself has close to 6,000 likes, about 800 comments and over 800 shares.

First Check found the claim that consuming onions in Coca-Cola can cure diabetes or significantly reduce high blood sugar levels is completely misleading and false. Onions are known for their potential health benefits, especially in managing blood sugar levels, but the idea of consuming them in a sugary drink like Coca-Cola is questionable.

Research has shown that onions contain compounds called flavonoids and sulfur compounds, which may help lower blood sugar levels. A study published in the National Library of Medicine indicated that consuming onion extract for four weeks significantly reduced fasting blood sugar levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes. These findings suggest that onions can be beneficial for diabetes management, primarily due to their ability to regulate insulin levels and improve glucose metabolism. However, most of the existing research has been conducted on animal models rather than humans.

However the suggestion to consume onions in Coca-Cola, especially as a remedy for diabetes, is absurd at best, dangerous at worst. First, the high sugar content of carbonated soft drinks can counteract any potential benefits derived from the onions. According to the Coca-Cola website, "there’s 10.6 g of sugar per 100 ml of Coca‑Cola Original Taste," and about 7 teaspoons (35 g) of sugar in a 330 ml can of the soda. This means a single can of the soda has more than the total daily sugar limit (30 g) recommended by the NHS.

High sugar intake is known to exacerbate blood sugar issues, making it counterproductive for diabetes management.

Therefore, the claim that onions in Coca-Cola can help manage diabetes is not true.

Also read: Fact-check: Ads promote bogus diabetes cure on Indian news websites

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