The sunflower plant is native to North America, but the seeds were carried to Europe and Russia before being brought back to America for commercial use in the 1950s. There are two types of sunflowers: one with small black seeds that are used for oil, and the confectionery sunflower, which has larger seeds harvested for food products. Sunflower seeds are an exceptional source of vitamin E, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fiber and minerals. All of the nutritional values in this article are based on ¼ cup of dry roasted sunflower seeds.
Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fiber
Sunflower seeds have 6 g of protein and 7.7 g of carbohydrates. Based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet, that represents 12 percent of the recommended daily value (DV) of protein and 2.5 percent of total carbohydrates. They're not a complete protein, but the seeds provide sufficient quantities of all but one amino acid. One serving also provides 3.6 g of dietary fiber (14 percent DV).
Omega-6 and Fats
The total fat content is 15.2 g, which includes saturated fats (1.7 g), monosaturated fats (3 g) and polyunsaturated fats (10.5 g). Unsaturated fats help lower blood cholesterol but they're also high in calories; ¼ cup of sunflower seeds has 186 calories. Sunflower seeds are an outstanding source of the essential fatty acid omega-6. While one serving also provides a small amount of omega-3 (0.02 g), it provides 10.5 g of omega-6, which is 87.5 percent of the recommended daily intake for women and 61.8 percent for men.
Vitamin E
Sunflower seeds are a rich source of the antioxidant vitamin E. They provide 8.35 mg, which is 41 percent of the total daily value.
Minerals
Sunflower seeds provide all of the essential minerals. They provide 22 mg of calcium (2 percent DV), 1.22 mg of iron (6 percent DV), 272 mg of potassium (7 percent DV) and 41 mg of magnesium (10 percent DV). The seeds are a great source of phosphorus (379 mg or 37 percent DV), selenium (25.4 mcg or 36 percent DV), manganese (0.675 mg or 33 percent DV) and copper (0.58 mg or 29 percent DV). The natural seeds contain only 1 mg of salt, which is too small to represent a percentage of daily calories. However, if salt is added during roasting, that jumps to 131 mg (5 percent DV).
B Vitamins
Sunflower seeds supply six of the eight B-complex vitamins. They provide 2.25 mg of vitamin B5 (22 percent DV), 76 mcg of folate (19 percent DV), 0.26 mg of vitamin B6 (12 percent DV) and 2.25 mg of niacin (11 percent DV). They have smaller amounts of riboflavin (0.079 mg or 5 percent DV) and thiamin (0.034 or 2 percent DV).
Vitamin C
You'll obtain a trace amount of vitamin C--0.4 mg--which represents 1 percent of the recommended daily value.
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