Does Eating Raw Onions Boost Your Testosterone? 4chan Thinks So
One rising dietary trend might just bring you to tears, either from laughter, from concern for human civilization — or from eating an entire onion raw. Some users of 4chan (best known as the online home of angry gamers and the dankest "alt-right" memes) have started eating raw onions and drinking onion juice. They believe, based on a few forgotten-about studies, that the juice will boost their testosterone and earn them the envy of their fellow message board contributors.
Why these folks believe they need more testosterone is unclear, but one thing is for certain — plenty of people seem to be giving this stinky habit a try.
For some 4chan users, raw onion consumption has become a point of pride. As with the emergence of the term "soy boy," these internet users have come to believe that certain dietary habits can either hinder or facilitate the pursuit of manliness. Somehow this has led to people eating raw onions like apples — and it isn't going well.
4Chan /pol/ users are eating onions in an effort to increase their testosterone, and it's not going well pic.twitter.com/jSX9MD4Oyo
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) November 20, 2017
"I bit into it like an apple and was instantly filled with burning regret," one 4chan user said in the comments compiled in the tweet above by Will Sommer, a journalist who compiles the weekly "Right Richter" newsletter devoted to online activity on the extreme right.
"Consuming onion juice was a trying, though masculine, experience," claimed another commenter.
What's masculine about the scathing, acidic taste of raw, tear-jerking onion? Advocates have cited two inconclusive studies to defend the habit, alongside a few graphically described personal accounts of the experience:
"I can feel the onion juice flowing through my body, coming into contact with every organ, every cell, and every bodily fluid ... I am in need of a testosterone boost, and thus am willing to smell like an onion for a few weeks or months."
According to more recent threads, they are also willing to consume raw broccoli, which is rumored to decrease levels of estrogen. Both of these things are actually pretty good for you in moderation — but never did we anticipate a world where broccoli and onions were viewed as essential supplements for achieving peak masculinity.
Regardless, the raw onions probably won't work to boost your man hormone. First off, the two studies were conducted on rats that had raw onion juice injected directly into their stomachs. Unless we have a real-life Peter Pettigrew situation on our hands, none of these disciples of aggressive power are actual rodents.
The studies themselves made us even more skeptical. One of the two cited studies showed that male rats who consumed onion juice copulated faster but less often. The other showed the onion juice increased the concentration of sperm in the rats' testes.
Unless these 4chan users are secretly in a pursuit of a higher sperm count and less frequent (but quicker) sex, we doubt these studies do much for their onion-loving claims.
We would also like to point out that, while men who eat more vegetables do smell better to women, onions don't count. They're a foul-smelling food that's bound to make you stink worse than even the most noisome political agenda.