If you pay even a little bit of attention to the nutrition world, you’ve probably heard of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. What are they exactly? They are essential fatty acids, meaning that your body cannot produce them on its own and they must come from your diet. Essential fatty acids play an important role in many bodily functions.
Omega-3s and 6s are unsaturated fatty acids and fall under the polyunsaturated category. From a science standpoint, this means they have more than one unsaturated carbon bond in the molecule, also known as a double bond.
In order to obtain the health benefits of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, you need to consume them in an appropriate ratio. The question you ask yourself shouldn’t be “am I getting enough omega-3 foods?” but more along the lines of “is my omega-6 to omega-3 ratio proportionate?” Many experts believe that the omega 6:3 ratio in our diets should be about 1:2 for optimal health. Unfortunately, the Standard American Diet (SAD) is rich in omega-6s, leaving the ratio at 15:1 or worse for a large number of people.
You might be wondering where your ratio stands. Let’s talk about how to figure that out.
First it’s important to know why the omega-6:omega-3 ratio matters. Simply put, too few omega-3s and/or too many omega-6s can cause inflammatory reactions in the body leading to conditions like arthritis, heart disease and high cholesterol, digestive disorders, allergies, joint and muscle pain, mental disorders like depression, cognitive decline, and more. By balancing out your consumption of these fatty acids, you can suppress the inflammatory processes and reduce risk for and improve these painful and damaging conditions.
Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can be found in a variety of foods. Most of the foods I have listed below contain a combination of both, but are higher in one or the other. Omega-3s are found predominantly in fatty fish and a few plant based foods (in decending order) mackerel, salmon fish oil, cod liver oil, walnuts, chia seeds, herring, salmon, flaxseeds, tuna, white fish, sardines, and hemp seeds. Omega-6s come from vegetable oils (canola, soybean, cottonseed, safflower, corn, etc.), avocado, margarine, nuts, seeds, packaged food with added vegetable/seed oil, grains, and conventional meats.
Now that you know the sources of each, are you thinking about your own diet? If you know you aren’t getting enough omega-3 or too much omega-6, the most important change to make is to start avoiding pre-packaged convenience foods which are filled with omega-6-rich vegetable oils. On top of that, incorporating fatty fish into your diet a few times per week will help increase your omega-3 intake and begin to balance out your ratio.
If you struggle to include fish in your diet, a fish oil supplement can increase your omega-3. Remember, this is a last resort because we should attempt to get our nutrients from food first! As stated above, chia seed, flaxseed, and walnuts are also rich in omega-3; however, it gets tricky because there are actually two different types of omega-3s. There are long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, which are abundant in fish and shellfish. On the other hand, there are also short-chain omega-3 fatty acids called ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). ALA is found in plant foods like chiaseed, flaxseed, and walnuts. We recommend you get your omega-3s from fish first because you would have to eat a lot of these plant foods to gain the same benefits as you do from fish. The health benefits of short-chain omega-3s are important, but not as plentiful as EPA and DHA.
As if you haven’t heard enough already, to add to that, it is possible for ALA to be converted to EPA and DHA in the body. However, the conversion is often inefficient and competes with other processes like digestion and absorption of omega-6s. Hopefully this isn’t confusing you too much, but I just want to emphasize the important of including fish in your diet J
What can I do today to improve my ratio?
1. Identify where both the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are coming from in your diet.
2. Decide if your ratio is optimal (remember we should aim for an omega-6:omega-3 ratio of about 1:2).
3. Cut down on omega-6 or increase omega-3 depending on your current diet. If you’re eating a lot of omega-6s, you may need to do both of these things. Simply replace some of the omega-6 with omega-3.
4. Increase your fish intake (have I said this enough?)
5. Improve the sources of your omega-6s. Of course we still need omega-6 to function properly. Just like not all omega-3s are treated equal, all omega-6s aren’t either. For example, vegetable oils are oxidized easily and can produce damaging free radicals in your body. Get most of your omega-6 from avocados, nuts, nut butter, and seeds.
6. Maintain. It would be near impossible to keep a perfect ratio all the time. Try your best to be mindful of where the unsaturated fats in your diet are coming from. If you notice you’ve been eating a lot of nuts on a given week, balance it out by eating some salmon or walnuts.
One final point I want to make is that you do not have to measure out your ratio gram for gram. The recommended ratio is simply a rule of thumb to help us reap the health benefits of unsaturated fats. Shoot for eating a variety of fats every week, both saturated and unsaturated. If you want further assistance or need to improve your ratio, contact us for a consultation.
