Sunflower oil

Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil pressed from the seeds of the sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient.

Sunflower oil is primarily composed of linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fat, and oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat. Through selective breeding and manufacturing processes, oils of differing proportions of the fatty acids are produced. The expressed oil has a neutral taste profile. The oil contains a large amount of vitamin E.

Sunflower oil is mainly a triglyceride. The British Pharmacopoeia lists the following profile:^{[dubious – discuss]}

Four types of sunflower oils with differing concentrations of fatty acids are produced through plant breeding and industrial processing: high-linoleic (conventional), high-oleic, mid-oleic, and high-stearic combined with high-oleic.

A 2017 genome analysis provided a basis for the development of hybrid sunflowers to increase oil production. Analysis of the sunflower genome duplication – starting about 29 million years ago – revealed two major breeding traits: flowering time and oil metabolism, which can be cultivated to improve the commercialization of sunflower oil.

In further analysis of the sunflower genome to reveal plant metabolism producing its oil, phytosterols and other phytochemicals, such as polyphenols, squalene, and terpenoids, were identified.

After the domestication of the sunflower (3000 BC), the Native Americans obtained and used oil from the seeds. In the modern era, sunflower oil was first used in food in Russia.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 caused global prices of sunflower oil to increase by as much as 58% in a single month in 2022.