Paediatricians warn against using onion fumes as cough remedy

Published on March 7, 2025 at 05:44
2 min read
By Najmi Mamat, AFP Malaysia

Onion-scented air cannot be used to treat coughing children, paediatricians told AFP after Malaysians shared the old claim online again in 2025. The purported home remedy does not have strong scientific backing and chronic coughing should be treated at proper health facilities as it could be a symptom of more serious underlying conditions, the doctors said.

"This is said to be a tip to get rid of coughing in children. Slice the onion thinly, (then) attach it to a fan so that we can breathe in the fragrant air of the onion," reads a Malay-language Facebook post in a group with more than 200,000 members on January 21.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken March 6, 2025

The folk remedy has circulated as early as 2017, resurfacing in 2019. It was shared again on Facebook in 2025.

However, paediatricians told AFP it was not supported by science and studies on the effects of inhaling onion-scented air for cough relief are limited and not robust enough.

Limited scientific evidence

"Studies of the specific practice of inhaling onion scent or vapours as therapeutic use for cough relief has limited scientific evidence, especially in children," said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior consultant paediatrician Dr Norazlin Kamal Nor on February 12 (archived link).

Although onions contain bioactive compounds previously shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits, the studies were not robust enough to support the use of onion fumes to treat coughing, Norazlin said.

Existing research on onions' benefits were conducted in test tubes rather than on humans and were not strong enough to support any therapeutic use, said Dr Faisal Mohd Fadzli, a consultant paediatrician at Malaysia's KPJ Tawakkal KL Specialist Hospital (archived link).

"A lot of this claimed 'scientific evidence' derived their claims from studies looking at certain chemicals that are contained in onions such as quercetin which showed to have anti-inflammatory effects... it is not strong enough evidence," he told AFP on March 6.

Both paediatricians added that coughs, particularly chronic ones, could be a symptom of more serious underlying conditions in children such as asthma and infections like tuberculosis and influenza.

Parents should seek the advice of licensed medical practitioners when a child's cough does not improve or worsens, they said.

AFP has previously fact-checked other folk remedies here and here.

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