Sunflower oil is a non-volatile oil that
can be easily extracted from sunflowers. Although most people are
already familiar with sunflowers, they dont immediately think of
sunflowers as sources of an extremely healthy vegetable oil that
can replace some of the less healthy cooking oils available on the
market. Sunflower oil is also used in certain cosmetic
applications. The main producers [2] of sunflower oil are Russia,
Ukraine, and Argentina, but it is used throughout the world in the
preparation of various cuisines.
One of the primary reasons for the growing popularity of sunflower
oil is its impressive fatty acid content [3], which includes
palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid. The
combination of fatty acids in the body are extremely important to
maintain various elements of human health, and sunflower oil can
help maintain that balance.
Furthermore, some of those fatty acids, as well as vitamin E and
other organic compounds, act as antioxidants in sunflower oil,
which means that they can positively affect a huge range of
conditions that people regularly suffer from. It also has more
polyunsaturated fats than any other commonly used vegetable oil,
and with the recent craze of eating healthy and searching for
alternative options, sunflower oil is becoming quite desirable on
the international market.
