Health Benefits of Sunflower Seeds
Boost your salad’s health factor with a handful of sunflower seeds! Aside from being naturally rich in folate (perfect from pregnant women!) and antioxidant Vitamin E, sunflower seeds are also packed with mono- and poly-unsaturated fats which help keep the bad cholesterol away. It’s also high in selenium and copper, which, together with Vit. E, prevents cellular damage that may lead to cancer, heart disease, and other health problems.
There have also been studies indicating that sunflower seeds are high in many phytochemicals– such as choline, lignan, phenolic acids, and betaine, as well as the amino acid arginine — which have a wide array of health benefits.
Toss them in your salad, or pick on them as you would on peanuts or chips!
Source: Power of Sunflower Seeds (pdf)
I love sunflower seeds, but I much prefer the already de-shelled, as I hate deshelling them myself, and I just can’t (Prissy little me
) bring myself to put the entire thing in my mouth and THEN spit out the shell like my boyfriend does.
I eat tons of sunflower seeds every night. I just received my blood work and found out that my colesteral is 287 do you think that eating to many sunflower seeds is causing my colesteral to go that high. Is there a high fat content in sunflower seeds. thank you annette
Annette, as my entry said, sunflower seeds help LOWER cholesterol levels. Here’s more on the subject:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/34699.php
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=57#healthbenefits
I would recommend however that you speak to your nutritionist/doctor about it.
I started buying raw, hulled sunflower seeds about a month ago. I went to the internet to find out how to roast them. Well, I just can’t believe how great they are. Now when I am looking for something to snack on I reach for the sunflower seeds instead of chips, sweets, etc.
Sunflower seeds contain significant quantities of omega-6 fats, along with pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and pecans, and should be avoided in striving to achieve your body’s proper balance of omega-3 fats.
Would sunflower seeds still be good for my health even when I’m 37 weeks in my pregnancy?….
WEDNESDAY, 22ND OCTOBER 2008
DEAR SIRS AT http://WWW.EATINGFABULOUS.COM
THANK YOU FOR YOUR WEBSITE ON HEALTH BENEFITS OF SUNFLOWERSEEDS. IN THE COURSE OF MY STUDY ON THE NUTRIENT CALLED AMYGDALIN NUTRIENT FOUND HIGHLY IN APRICOT KERNELS, DO SUNFLOWER SEEDS ALSO CONTAIN AMOUNTS OF AMYGDALIN WHICH IS KNOWN AS AN ANTI-CANCER PREVENTION IN REFERENCE TO DR. ERNEST T. KREBBS JR’S WORK AND RESEARCH IN THE 1950′S, A BIOCHEMIST WHO FIRST PRODUCED LAETRILE, LIQUID FORM OF AMYGDALIN.
THANK YOU FOR LOOKING INTO THIS HEALTH CONCERN AND INTERESTOF MINE. I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE ANY COMMNENTS, INPUT AND REFERENCES.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
GARDENIA550@HAWAIIANTEL.NET