Why Sunflower Oil is a Great Ingredient in Health and Wellness Products
The flower and oil
Still searching for that magical elixir that will put you and your label on the map? There are lots of oils and natural ideas to for you to sort from and that can be a challenging to sift through. While you will have to be the final decider as you commonly are with your own label, here is one that can potentially be what you are looking for. There are things you need to look out for and we’ll discuss all of that as well as its strong points and why the demand for such an oil has shot up through the roof over the past few years and shows no signs of slowing down. Sunflower oil is rich is antioxidants such as vitamin E making it an ideal ingredient in moisturizers because of its replenishing qualities and its fight against free radicals that may be present. Its vitamin E count is a major draw that brings people to this oil but you’ll see that there is so much more!
Refined vs Pure
Great in salad!
The oil is as we have discussed is naturally very healthy and loaded with nutrients, however it is on the more unstable side of the spectrum. This means that the compounds in oil (the fats) are not bound tightly together and when it comes in contact with heat it will have a lower smoking point (the temperature where it starts to burn). That in addition to releasing toxins and free radicals that are linked to causing cancer makes a messy combination. Due to its instability people have taken to refining it, meaning it goes through extraction, de-gumming, neutralization and bleaching processes. This makes the oil safer and more stable for high temperature cooking however you lose almost all of the health benefits people are looking for (and add some negative ones, see above) when cooking with this refined version. This is especially true if there are chemicals used during extraction.
If you are looking for an oil to fry with and you think a different vegetable oil is a good replacement for olive oil, you are wrong. Olive oil has a high smoking point (the purer the oil the higher the smoking point) and retains its nutrients throughout. Sunflower oil is not the oil you want for frying however it is great in things like salad recipes, and other things like marinades or low temp cooking procedures. When looking for a cooking oil you want something that is high in saturated fats that keep it stable at higher temperatures and sunflower oil is not such an oil. It also has a much higher than normal Omega-6 count which is generally considered to be a downside for cooking. Its uses are plentiful in health and wellness and again you should only be using pure, unrefined sunflower oil. The differences are easy to spot between the refined and pure versions as the pure is almost a honey color and the refined is a pale yellow. There are several types of the oil produced and they all have different acidity and mono-saturated fat levels, both will primarily depend on where in the world your oil is from.
Sunflower Oil for Skin
As we mentioned at the start of this piece sunflower oil is more than rich in vitamin E and that has various benefits that will make it extremely useful in skin care some of which are mentioned above. Basically the vitamin is what your skin needs to keep itself looking young and feeling healthy, that includes fighting wrinkles, wanting to remove scars and help the healing process of cuts along. It also acts as an anti-inflammatory that can help out with arthritis pain and reduce swelling in joints. This can be your main ingredient in any skin cream falls into the above mentioned categories and you would be doing yourself well. Marketing a serum as a vitamin E is another idea that people seem to like and sunflower oil is a great place to get that vitamin E.
Seeds Flower and Oil
There are other topical uses that are great fits for sunflower oil, like massage oils and lubes (although I feel you are best with a water not oil solution for lubricants) because it doesn’t smell very strongly and doesn’t leave an oily residue. A common issue with skin that leads to acne is that it is lacking in linoleic acid, a problem that sunflower oil can remedy with its high amount of linoleic acid. There are other serums that sunflower oil can be a big contributor too like calcium or iron as it has good amounts of both within.
We know that our oil is high in linoleic acid making your skin closer to impervious to acne, but what about our hair? What about those of us (myself included) that have passed the acne stage and are far more worried about thinning hair and general hair loss, can sunflower oil be of any help to me? The answer as you may have guessed is yes. There is a high count of oleic acid in sunflower oil. Oleic acid is an omega 9 acid, a rejuvenator and true warrior in the hair loss world. Again you have vitamin E which not only moisturizes your skin but your hair and scalp as well, keeping away flaky dandruff as well as joining the hair loss fight. You don’t need to be using it long to begin to see results in your hair. You will notice a shinier, sleeker and more alive hair within the first couple weeks.
No matter how you are planning on using this oil for your skin or hair rest assured it will produce results and leave you glad you chose it. It’s vitamins and acids make it as potent as it is healthy. A truly fantastic oil with the benefits you need to get the job done with the results you want.
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