A bright yellow flower with a seed-studded center, sunflowers produce grayish-green or black seeds encased in shells with black and white stripes. The seeds make a great snack food, satisfying your hunger while providing protein, vitamin E, phytosterols, fiber, magnesium and selenium in a satisfying crunch. Depending on how they are processed, they may also contain a significant amount of sodium.
Unsalted
Sunflower seeds may be eaten raw or, for slightly more flavor, they may be roasted. Without any added sodium chloride, or table salt, sunflower seeds naturally contain a negligible amount of sodium, about 1 mg of sodium per cup. As a point of reference, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the Institute of Medicine and the National High Blood Pressure Education Program all recommend healthy adults limit their sodium intake to about 1,500 mg to no more than 2,300 mg per day.
Salted
To increase flavor, many sunflower seed snack packages salt their sunflower seeds. Although often salted while still in the shell, they nevertheless contain significant amounts of sodium, as the salt particles can easily penetrate inside the not quite completely sealed shell. On average, roasted, salted sunflower seeds contain about 50 mg of sodium per 1/4 cup serving. However, certain brands contain much more than that. For example, sunflower seeds sold by the Nuts Online company contain about 90 mg, while David Original Sunflower Seeds contain 135 mg of sodium per 1/4 cup serving, about 10 percent of your recommended daily limit of sodium.
Fat
Sunflower seeds contain a high level of fat for a snack food product, about 5 to 18 g of fat per 1/4 cup serving, depending on whether the volume and/or weight of the seeds are measured before or after they are removed from their shell. However, most of this fat is polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fat or "good" fat. There is very little saturated or "bad" fat. Saturated fat increases the levels of LDL or "bad" cholesterol. Using monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in place of saturated and trans fats can lower your risk of heart disease by reducing the total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in your blood.
Protein
As a snack food, sunflower seeds provide a generous serving of protein. A 1/4 cup serving of either roasted, plain, salted or unsalted sunflower seeds provides up to about 8 g of protein. The 2002 Dietary Reference Intakes updates from the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences recommends healthy adults consume about 50 g of protein per day. The recommended amount of protein intake for children varies by age and gender, but for children ages 4 to 13, the recommended amount equals 0.95 g of protein per kg of body weight or about 20 to 30 g per day. For children ages 14 to 18, that amount drops to 0.85 g of protein per kg of body weight, but because of their increased weight, the total protein intake recommended ranges from about 46 g to 52 g per day. A single serving of sunflower seeds provides about 16 percent of that value.
Calories
While sunflower seeds provide a source of protein, good fat and other nutrients, and can be potentially low in sodium, they do contain a moderate amount of calories. A 1-oz. serving of sunflower seeds, which is slightly more than 1/4 of a cup, contains about 130 to 190 calories, depending on whether the volume or weight is measured before or after the shell is removed. For a typical daily diet of 2,000 calories, a single serving of this snack provides almost 10 percent of the total caloric needs for the day.
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