Nutritional Information for Safflower Oil
Safflower oil is probably one of the most unknown types of oil. If you’re still not including this in your diet, we’ll tell you everything you need to know.
Keep reading to discover where this vegetable oil comes from, what its benefits are and some nutritional facts. As you’ll be able to verify, it’s a very beneficial oil. Don’t hesitate to include it in your diet.
Where does safflower oil come from?
Safflower oil comes from a plant with the same name. This plant belongs to the thistle family, and it grows to be about 20 inches tall. It has thorns with yellow flowers on the tips, and those flowers contain the seeds.
Originally, safflowers were cultivated in India, but their production has spread all over the world. The reason behind this is that safflowers can adapt to any type of soil and climate. As a matter of fact, they can even resist intense droughts and frosts.
After processing the seeds, you end up with safflower oil. In the following sections, we’ll talk about the nutritional value and benefits of this precious vegetable oil.
Nutritional information about safflower oil
As with all kinds of oil, the composition of safflower oil mainly consists of essential fatty acids. The types of fats it contains are:
- Eighty percent of monounsaturated fats
- Fourteen percent of polyunsaturated fats
- Six percent of saturated fat
Safflower oil also contains a small amount of vitamins K and E. As for the calorie content, 100 grams of product contain 884 calories. This amount is very similar to the calories in olive or sunflower oil.
Although it’s a very high number, given the enormous amount of fats it contains, keep in mind that you only use very small quantities of safflower oil at one time.
Benefits of safflower oil
This oil has multiple benefits, which makes it a recommendable option for the entire population. We’ll talk about the most outstanding benefits in the following paragraphs. The positive effect that this oil has on your body will surely surprise you.
- Natural source of essential fatty acids: as we mentioned in the nutritional information part of this article, safflower oil contains essential fatty acids. This type of fat can help you to maintain your heart health in optimal condition and preserve your memory.
- It’s effective against dry skin: if you tend to have dry skin, this oil can be very beneficial. Since it contains vitamin E, this oil nourishes your skin and makes it more flexible. Applying this oil once a week will be enough to start noticing the benefits.
- Fight inflammation: safflower oil contains anti-inflammatory properties, so it’s very beneficial if you suffer from this type of ailments.
- Regulate cholesterol levels: safflower oil can help to reduce bad cholesterol levels and increase good cholesterol levels at the same time. This is a very interesting property, especially for people who tend to present inadequate levels of this fat.
- Improves capillary health: this product makes your hair shiny and helps it to grow stronger. For this reason, it’s a great oil for people with damaged and dry hair.
Different ways to use it
After knowing about all the benefits of safflower oil, we’re sure that you can’t wait to include it in your diet. Remember, you may find some ways of using it more effective than others. It all depends on the effect you want to achieve.
The most common way to use it is in cooking. As with all other oils, you should only use small quantities. This is the only way to benefit from its properties without the negative impact of its high-fat content.
Other ways you can use safflower oil is in gels, shampoos and body lotions. You can also buy it in a herbalist store as a food supplement.
In this last option, we recommend looking for the opinion of a specialist first. That’s the only way in which you’ll be able to ingest the right amount of oil and benefit from its properties.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Ziegler, E. E., & Filer, L. J. (1998). Conocimientos actuales sobre nutricion. Revista Española de Salud Pública. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1135-57271998000400011
- Ronayne, P. (2014). Importancia de los ácidos grasos poliinsaturados en la alimentación del lactante. Arch. Argent. Pediatr. https://doi.org/10.1080/003655902320783863
- Salaberría, Florencia & Carrín, María & Constenla, Diana. (2012). Caracterización química de semillas de cártamo y su aceite.