Benefits of Sunflower as a Herbal Medicine

In addition to its beautiful shape, sunflower can also be used as an herbal medicine that can cure several types of diseases. This seasonal flower, which reaches 1-3 meters in height and has rough hair, has seeds located in the center of the flower and is often known as a watermelon. The benefits of sunflower can be used to cure rheumatic diseases, dysentery, and urinary tract infections.

Parts that can be used as herbal medicine are the roots, flowers, and seeds. The seeds, which are known as watermelon seeds, actually contain flavanoids, polyphenols, betasitosterol, and prostaglandins. Meanwhile, the flowers contain quercimeritrin, helianthoside A, B, C, oleanolica acid, and echinocystic acid.

The seeds have oils that have saturated fats of 9.8 percent, unsaturated fats such as oleate of 11.7 percent, and linoleate of 72.9 percent, and do not contain cholesterol making it suitable as a safe snack. To get 1 liter of sunflower oil, it requires up to 60 compound flower bunches.

All of these ingredients cause sunflower to have pharmacological effects such as lowering blood pressure, reducing pain, antidysentery, and stimulating the release of bodily fluids such as hormones and enzymes. In addition, it can stimulate the expenditure of measles, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, urine laxative, cough reliever, stimulates vital energy, calms the liver, and relieves pain during urination.

To cure rheumatic disease, you can boil the head of the flower until it turns into a starch and attach it to the affected body part. Furthermore, to treat dysentery can use the seeds by brewing the seeds and added a little sugar. You can drink boiling water to cure dysentery.

To overcome the problem of difficult bowel movements and urinary tract infections, can be overcome by boiling the roots of sunflower plants. Next, drink boiled water so that your bowel movements and urinating smoothly.

Sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine and the official flower of the state of Kansas, United States. In the world of Chinese pharmacology, sunflower is useful as a soft giver and aroma neutralizer.

Although sunflower is an herbal remedy, it is not recommended for pregnant women to consume boiled sunflower water.