What Is The Omega3 Omega 6 Ratio And Why Should You Care?
Peter Bertonach | December 6, 2009Perhaps you’re already aware of the health benefits of essential fatty acids, and in particular Omega 3 fatty acids. There’s been plenty of news lately about these health benefits and many people now understand about the importance of maintaining an adequate intake of Omega3 fats, in which most of us are deficient. But have you heard about Omega 6 fats, and do you know what the Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio is?
We all need good fats known as essential fatty acids for good health. Our body cannot manufacture these itself and so relies on getting them through our diet every day. Omega 3 fats are found in fish, and the vast majority of us are deficient in Omega 3 intake.
However Omega 6 fatty acids are generally found in a range of plant-based food sources that we are not deficient in in our diet. You find Omega 6 fats in sunflower oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, corn oil and more, and soy oil is almost totally comprised of Omega 6 fatty acids.
Generally these vegetable oils are extremely cheap. Because they are cheap they are used in almost all processed foods requiring oil, including margarine. Most of us eat a diet high in processed foods and cook with vegetable oils and as a result our diets are too high in Omega 6.
Research has shown that in the past most of us had an Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio that was roughly 1 to 1. This meant that we ate about the same amount of Omega 3 as Omega 6 fats. But because we now eat much more processed foods and vegetable-based oils estimates are that the Omega 6 Omega 3 ratio has increased to somewhere around, depending on the estimate, from 10 to 1 to 30 to 1. We are now eating much more Omega 6 fats than we have ever done in the past.
Omega 6 essential fatty acids are equally important to our health however just as important is the Omega3 Omega 6 ratio, and over the past hundred years or so this is changed dramatically. By eating too much Omega 6 and too little Omega 3 we are all exposing ourselves to a wide range of health implications including the possibility of various cancers, coronary artery disease and a range of other inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.
And there is also an issue with our meat. Traditionally our farm animals have been raised on grass and this produces meat higher in Omega3. However farming practices have changed over the last hundred years and most of our meat now comes from grain fed animals which produces meat lower in Omega 3 and higher in Omega 6.
Whilst both Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats are important to our health most of us are deficient in our intake of Omega 3 and have an Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio that is way too high, and we need to reduce our intake of Omega 6 fats. This can be done by reducing the amounts of processed foods in our diets and by changing our cooking oils from vegetable oils to good oils such as olive oil. And we all need to be increasing our intake of Omega 3 fatty acids with daily fish oil supplements.
Note that although fish oil supplements are extremely cost-effective not all are as good as others, you need to know how to compare the different fish oil supplements available to make an effective choice.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio, or about how to compare the different brands of fish oil capsules, then visit my website to do so.
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