Yesterday, when i was watching a show on television, i came to know that sunflower oil is much better than other edible oils. But only a few know this fact. So, i decided to dig a bit to satisfy my knowledge juices. I summarize below the information I got by digging sunflower oils.

Sunflower oil is edible oil extracted from sunflower seeds. Botanical name of sunflower is Helianthus annuus, great.  Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient. 

What is the composition of sunflower oil?

I didn’t know that sunflower oil is composed of few acids. It’s good that i now know that. According to The British Pharmacopoeia, Sunflower has the following composition:

Palmitic acid: 4 – 9%,

Stearic acid: 1 – 7%,

Oleic acid: 14 – 40%,

Linoleic acid: 48 – 74%.

Sunflower oil contains lecithin, tocopherols, carotenoids and waxes and has a high Vitamin E content. It is a combination of mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats with low saturated fat levels.

Is there any benefit of sunflower oils?

As an edible oil: Sunflower oil is high in the essential vitamin E and low in saturated fat. Sunflower oil is common cooking oil that has high levels of the essential fatty acids called polyunsaturated fat. It is also known for having a clean taste and low levels of trans fat. Ok, too much technical talk. What this means is that Sunflower oil of any kind has been proven to beneficial for heart. Diets made from sunflower oil has bee proven to decrease cholesterol which in turn reduces chances of many heart diseases. Studies suggested that a balanced diet made with sunflower oil has detectable cholesterol-reducing benefits. Download the following document to have a good understanding of the fact. 

As a skin Oil: Sunflower oil also have skin-health benefits. Sunflower oil, like other oils, can retain moisture in the skin. Moreover, it may also provide a protective barrier that resists infection. Studies using sunflower oil have been conducted involving pre-term infants that are often susceptible to infection due to their underdeveloped skin. Research suggests that pre-term infants with low birth weight can benefit from sunflower oil skin treatments. Infections decreased by 41% in infants that received a daily skin treatment of sunflower oil. The sunflower oil provided a protective barrier against infection that was not otherwise present on the infant.

 As a source of  energy: Much research is being done to determine uses for sunflower oil aside from edible concerns. Sunflower oil has been researched as a potential diesel substitute, with sunflower oil having the energy equivalent to 93% of # 2 U.S. diesel fuel. In the future, sunflower oil could also become a renewable bio-source for hydrogen. To date, however, the extraction process “costs” more energy than the hydrogen liberated would provide. Sunflower oil is also processed and used as lubricants in machinery, including automobiles. Additionally, experiments have shown that sunflower oil could be turned into plastic materials such as vinyl and latex – time will tell what new uses the sunflower will come in handy for!

Production:

Argentina has been the world’s largest producer of sunflowers, with an average of 25 percent of world production. The European Union (14%), Russia (12%), and Eastern Europe (11%) are also large producers of sunflowers. The United States produces almost as much as Ukraine at 8% of worldwide production. The three largest exporters are Russia (25% of world exports), European Union (24 %) and Ukraine (24%). 

With respect to sunflower oil production, the European Union and Argentina produce 26% and 25 %, respectively, of world production. Argentina has 57 % of world export market share, followed by the United States at 12 % and EU at 9 %. Mexico is the largest importer of U.S. sunflower oil, with 33 percent of the U.S. export market share. Algeria is second with 23% market share, followed by Egypt (9.5%), Netherlands (7%) and Australia (4.5%). 

Processing Plants

Four major oil-type sunflower crushing plants are located in the Great Plains. Cargill operates a plant in West Fargo, N.D., while ADM operates plants in Goodland, Kansas; Enderlin, N.D.; and Red Wing, Minnesota. Tinna group has got its processing plant at latur, Maharashtra and Dharwad, Karnataka India. Tinna Group has entered into a joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), USA, a Fortune 500 company.Tinna has its warehousing at vizag and they are also the suppliers of cocoa powder and soya protein.