How many of us have the perception that sunflower oil is a much better choice than our normal vegetable oil? We will be looking at what sunflower oil and vegetable oil are, their nutritional benefits and many more.
Sunflower oil v vegetable oil
Sunflower oil is made by pressing the seeds of the sunflower plant to extract its oil. It is said to be a good source of vitamin E and omega 6 fatty acid. Vegetable oil on the other hand is actually a term for oils extracted from different part of plants. It can even be a blend of different oils extracted from different plants.
The type of plants which are used to extract the oil determines the nutritional composition of the oil. So based on what vegetable oils are, we can say that sunflower oil is actually a type of vegetable oil. If this is the case then I don’t think we can generalize when we say that vegetable oils are unhealthy. Now we can look at the different types of vegetable oils and sunflower oils we have.
What are the types
I bet most of us were not aware that we have different types of sunflower oil. Well we do and the types are based on the amount of either oleic acid or linoleic acid present in sunflower since those are the major fatty acids from present in sunflower. Now the types of sunflower oil includes high oleic sunflower, mid oleic sunflower, high linoleic sunflower and high oleic/stearic acid sunflower.
I think the types are rather self-explanatory in the sense that high oleic sunflower oil contains a higher amount of oleic acid which is commonly known as omega 9. The high linoleic sunflower oils are also abundant in linoleic acid which most of us probably know as omega 6 fatty acid and the high stearic/oleic sunflower contains both high proportions of stearic and oleic acid.
With vegetable oil, the common types we have include soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, palm oil, safflower oil, olive oil and peanut oil. We can also have two or more of these oils blended together to form vegetable oil.
As stated earlier in this article, the type of plant used for extraction of vegetable oil determines its nutritional benefits. For instance, vegetable oil made from soybean oil or which contains a blend of soybean oil will be high in minerals, vitamins and antioxidant. Vegetable oil which contains olive oil will also be high in omega 3 fatty acid.
Some of these types of vegetable oils can be groups into either pure, extra virgin, virgin or organic. When we talk about extra virgin oils, we are talking about oils pressed from whole plants such as olive plant without any heat or chemical treatment. These oils are unrefined and contain the least amount of oleic acid. Virgin oil on the other hand contains up to 2% free acidity(oleic acid) but is still and unrefined oil.
Pure oils consist of virgin oils which have been blended with refined oil(oil extracted from heat or chemical treatment). Organic oil is basically either a virgin oil or an extra virgin oil. Apart from olive oil, coconut oil is another vegetable oil that can be obtained as pure or organic.
What do they entail?
The sunflower oils with more oleic acids are high in monounsaturated fatty acid. Most of the health benefits associated with sunflower oil is based on the high oleic sunflower oil. The vitamin E present in sunflower oil has a positive effect on the body and therefore reduces risk of stroke (Khan Sheeba, Choudhary Saumya, Pandey Anamika, Khan Mohd Kamran, 2015). The high content of phytosterols present in sunflower controls cholesterol content in our body (Khan Sheeba, Choudhary Saumya, Pandey Anamika, Khan Mohd Kamran, 2015).
Sunflower oil may have negative effects in the sense that those high in linoleic acid contain a lot of omega 6 and too much intake of omega 6 can lead to inflammations. This is due to the fact that linoleic acid can be converted to arachidonic acid which is an inflammatory compound. Linoleic acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid.
Vegetables oils contrary to popular belief are also beneficial to our health. Vegetable oil such as olive oil contains carotenoids, tocopherols and polyphenols which are all good for our body (Rabail et al., 2021). Vegetable oils which have high monounsaturated fatty acid like olive oil has a positive effect on inflammation (Harwood JL and Yaqoob P, 2002).
Corn oil is an excellent source of gamma tocopherol which has strong anti-inflammatory activity and also alpha tocopherol. This shows that corn oil is another good source of vitamin E apart from sunflower oil (Grilo et al., 2014). Soybean oil is another vegetable oil which is a good source of antioxidants since it contains isoflavones. Palm oil is rich in phenolic compounds and phospholipids and it is the only vegetable oil with almost 50–50 composition of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (Zeb, 2021)
Which is the best?
So now that we have read all about sunflower and the other types of vegetable oil, which one do you think is healthier? I think now we have cleared that perception about vegetable oils not being healthy since we have seen their nutritional benefits now. No single oil is healthier because they all have different compositions. Also depending on the type of sunflower oil, you are using, you will know whether you are consuming more monounsaturated fatty acid or more polyunsaturated fatty acid. The next time you buy vegetable oil, check whether it contains oil from only one plant or it’s a blend of different plants.
References
Grilo, E.C. et al. (2014) ‘Alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol concentration in vegetable oils’, Food Science and Technology, 34(2), pp. 379–385. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0101-20612014005000031.
Harwood JL and Yaqoob P (2002) ‘Nutritional and health aspects of olive oil’, European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 104, pp. 685–697.
Khan Sheeba, Choudhary Saumya, Pandey Anamika, Khan Mohd Kamran, T.G. (2015) ‘Sunflower Oil: Efficient Oil Source for Human Consumption’, Emer Life Sci Res, 1(1), pp. 1–3.
Rabail, R. et al. (2021) ‘An intricate review on nutritional and analytical profiling of coconut, flaxseed, olive, and sunflower oil blends’, Molecules, 26(23), pp. 1–24. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26237187.
Zeb, A. (2021) ‘A comprehensive review on different classes of polyphenolic compounds present in edible oils’, Food Research International, 143(February), p. 110312. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110312.
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