It's important to note that the apparent HIV antiviral compounds identified in the Bonn study occur within the sunflower plant, not the edible seed or oil of sunflower. However, we already know that sunflower seed and oil have proven nutritional and health benefits unrelated to the defense chemicals within the plant that it uses to defend itself against fungal diseases. |
It's interesting to see this very complex plant disease as a potential source of medicine for a very difficult human disease. |
It's very preliminary, quite frankly. We are checking within different levels of Washington to see if there's potential for some accelerated research on this. |