Sunflower+Plant



__What is Sunflower __

Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants. The scientific name is Helianthus annuus (Faucon, 2010). Sunflower is the main source of sunflower oil which is popular around the world. (Faucon, 2010)

=
=====================================================================================================================================

 __Appearance of Sunflower __ The plant is yellow in color and has orange red rays of petals (figure 1). They grow up 3 to 12 feet tall in rich soil. Sunflower needs 90 to 100 days from planting to maturity.("Sunflower appearance," 2008) The environmental condition where sunflower best grow is in the sunny condition and where it has a room to grow and to expand their roots("Sunflower appearance," 2008). They should be planted 2 to 3 inches deep in light soil. The best time for planting Sunflower is in summer time and for the harvesting is summer time ("Sunflower appearance," 2008). The temperature range 70 to 78°F is the best range for growing sunflower. The soil must be kept regularly moist ("Sunflower appearance," 2008).

=
=======================================================================================================================================

__Where Sunflower Found __

Sunflower was first introduced to North America (Figure 2) and sunflower is the national flower of Russia( Figure 3) (Lerrene, 2010).. Sunflower is used by the Indians for food & oil. (Lerrene, 2010). Some countries where sunflower grow are: India, Europe, Russia, Mexico, Spain and North America. (Lerrene, 2010).





=
=========================================================================================================================================

__Product: Sunflower Oil __

The main product which is made by sunflower plant is Sunflower oil (Lerrene, 2010). The Sunflower oil is one of the most popular cooking oil in the world. Sunflower oil is light in taste and supplies more Vitamin E than any other vegetable oil (Lerrene, 2010). There are three types of oil that are available; NuSun, Linoleic and high oleic sunflower oil (Lerrene, 2010). They change in oleic levels and each one proposes unique properties. (Lerrene, 2010)

There are many products that are made of Sunflower such as:
 * Sunflower Oil
 * Sunflower Seeds
 * Lays Chips
 * Cream

=
========================================================================================================================================= Making the product <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">The making of Sunflower oil is almost done all around the world and the steps are outlined in figure 6. There are many processes that have to be done to the Sunflower plant to make it into refined Sunflower oil so we could use it. (Lerrene, 2010)

<span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Harvesting || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 3: <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Seed Preparation & cleaning || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 4: Pressing the seed || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 5: <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Refining || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 6: <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Deodorization || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 7: Packaging ||
 * <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 1: Growing the Sunflower || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Step 2:
 * <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">The first step of making sunflower oil is you have the grown sunflower plant. || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Sunflower then has to be harvested. Then you take out the sunflower from roots and then it’s taken to factory. || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Seeds are cleaned from seed cleaner and remove the unnecessary materials. || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Seeds are then press and squeeze most of the oil comes out. || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">To refine oil you need to use citric acid & temperatures around 250°F to eliminate the impurities from the oil. || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Every vegetable oil has its own natural smell. So it’s necessary to remove the oil smell. The process is carried away at high temperature and adds open steam to maintain at high vacuum at this time all smells are purify off and carried away to barometric condenser through vacuum system. || <span style="color: #0087da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">The final sunflower oil is seal in the plastic jar and sold all around the world. Once the country receives the oil it is packaged and sold. ||

Figure 6 - These are the steps on how Sunflower oil is produced.

media type="youtube" key="GKIS3HHhujg" width="586" height="343" align="center"

=
=========================================================================================================================================

= <span style="color: #08c9ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Beneficial Impacts: =

<span style="color: #31a0ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Sunflower oil is used almost all around the world. It is one of the best oil as it contains high levels of Vitamin E and tastes much lighter than vegetable oil ("Benefits of sunflower," 2009) <span style="color: #31a0ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">. The oil contains both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and it is lower in saturated fat, making it a healthy cooking choice ("Benefits of sunflower," 2009) <span style="color: #31a0ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">. The oil is used on skin to helps injury healing certain skin conditions. There is evidence signifying that the use of Sunflower oil in the diet might lower LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol choice ("Benefits of sunflower," 2009). Sunflower seeds contain 3.9 g of fiber and they are important in keeping the digestive system performance properly. The high-fiber diet might lower the risk of heart disease. Both Men and Women can take fiber but for women they should consume between 21 to 25g of fiber per day choice ("Benefits of sunflower," 2009). For men they can consume between 30 to 38g of fiber per day. Sunflowers are also good sources of protein making the perfect snack for any athlete (Figure 8). Protein is very important for maintaining high energy levels as working out. Sunflower seeds effect of causing our liver to release glycogen, a form of sugar. Then in the bloodstream it gives an extra boost of energy.

=
=====================================================================================================================================

<span style="color: #009fff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Harmful Impacts:

<span style="color: #319bff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Everything has positive and negative impact just like Sunflower. It is not always considered as well-balanced diet ("Re: sunflower oil...cancer," 2007). The oil has polyunsaturated fatty acids which can react to the body by damaging arteries and oxidizing blood, and results can be heart disease or a stroke known as cardiovascular disease. The high blood pressure can occur when there is a high level of the polyunsaturated fats that is found in sunflower oil. The fat then builds up in the blood and set the arteries into a chronic state of high pressure and it can lead to kidney failure and further serious diseases. There is a high amount of Omega 6 linoleic acid that is contained in Sunflower oil ("Re: sunflower oil...cancer," 2007). When Omega 3 not neutralize with Omega 6 then it can make worse Hyperinsulinemia and it can lead to non-insulin-dependent diabetes. The Polyunsaturated is high in calories so therefore you should limit to 10 percent of daily calorie intake. Phoma is a common Sunflower disease (Figure 9). This disease causes the soil borne fungus (Mullally, 2010).. The infection is described near the large graze on the stem (Mullally, 2010).. The infection first starts on the leaf and then it follows the petiole toward the stalk (Mullally, 2010).. There is no fungicide treatment available for this Phoma black stem disease (Mullally, 2010).

media type="youtube" key="pp0nc4kY-tc" width="472" height="323" align="center"

=
=====================================================================================================================================

<span style="color: #009fff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Conclusion:

<span style="color: #0094ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; line-height: normal;">Sunflower plant you can find worldwide, it is known as its beauty and main source of food. The main product that is made by Sunflower Plant is Sunflower Oil. It is a respected and healthy vegetable oil (Kleingartner, 2010). The best thing about Sunflower oil is that it contains Vitamin E. Every plant has benefit impact and Harmful impact. So for Beneficial impact is that Sunflower oil in the diet might lower LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. For the harmful impact is that the sunflower oil has polyunsaturated fatty acid which can react to the body by damaging arteries and oxidizing blood, and results can be heart disease which is known as cardiovascular disease. The making of Sunflower oil is done all around the world. The first Sunflower plant was find first in North America.

============================================================================================================================= =============================================================================================================================  ============================================================================================================================

__<span style="color: #0012ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">References __

<span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">Web sites citations: <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">1) Faucon, Philippe. (2010). Sunflower . Retrieved from [] <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">2) Lerrene, Kroh. (2010). Sunflower oil. Retrieved from [] <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">3) Thomas, Jefferson. (2008). Growing sufnlower. Retrieved from [] <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">4)Sunflower appearance. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.santharia.com/herbarium/sunflower.htm <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">5) Benefits of sunflower seeds. (2009, Jully 11). Retrieved from http://www.natural-homeremedies.org/blog/benefits-of-sunflower-seeds/ <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">6) Re: sunflower oil..cancer causing agent?. (2007, December 1). Retrieved from http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/nutrition-grooming/66606-sunflower-oil-cancer-causing-agent.html <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">7) Mullally, Sonia. (2010). growers > diseases > phoma black stem. Retrieved from http://www.sunflowernsa.com/growers/diseases/phoma-black-stem/

Picture Citation: 1)North america map. (n.d.). Retrieved from [] 2)Russia map. (2010). Retrieved from [] 3)Types of fats & their profile. (n.d.). Retrieved from [] 4)Sunflower oil. (n.d.). Retrieved from, http://www.bombayharbor.com/Product/45428/Sunflower_Oil.html 5) Vitamin-e-benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved from [] 6) 14953524e. (n.d.). Retrieved from [] 7) Phoma. (n.d.). Retrieved from [] 8) Sunflower. (n.d.). Retrieved from []

<span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">Articles Citations <span style="color: #9b00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 139%;">T.R, Hodge. (2010, November 30). How sunflower oil affects us, from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7423377_sunflower-oil-affects.html