Omega 6 vs Omega 3
- Molly Kate
- Feb 23, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 27, 2023
I’m sure you have all heard something about vegetable oils as they have been a hot topic as of late. Some Harvard studies have been published that state that that vegetable oils are healthy and beneficial to our health. And yet we continue to be warned against consuming too many vegetable oils by other health officials. So what is the deal? How can something that sounds so healthy, vegetable oils, walnuts, almonds, be so bad for us? Let’s dive into it.
So first, let’s make sure we’re on the same page with omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. There are saturated fats and unsaturated fats found in our food. Unsaturated fat is split into two different categories of omega 6 and omega 3. So omega 6 fatty acids mainly contain Linoleic acid (LA). And omega 3 fatty acids consist of EPA, DHA and ALA. Foods high in omega 6 include vegetable oils (corn oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil), walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. And some foods high in omega 3 would be flaxseed oil, salmon and salmon oil, sardines, cod, chia seeds and olive oil.
Now, while some sources of omega 6 are healthy and beneficial for our health (namely nuts and fatty fruits) it has been proven that a large ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is highly dangerous and toxic for our bodies. High ratios in excess of 4:1 of omega 6 to omega 3 have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Whereas, higher amounts of omega 3 to a lower omega 6 consumption is proven to suppress inflammation within the body, which causes a decrease risk of cancer and arthritis. A ratio of 4:1 of omega 6 to omega 3 is associated with a 70% decrease in mortality!
Paleolithic era humans had a great balance between omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids with a ratio around 1:1; whereas in the west, our diets have a ratio closer to 15:1 or even high in some cases. Perhaps this would explain why autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases such as cancers and Alzheimer’s have continually increased in our society. A good ratio balance is important for brain development and decreasing the risk of coronary heart disease, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and other autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.
Now not only should we pay attention to the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 that we are consuming but the sources of how we obtain omega 6 are highly important as well (enter the great vegetable oil debate). The number one main issue many scientists and health experts have with vegetable oils is what happens to the oils when you cook with them, especially over high heat. We now have evidence that shows that something extremely toxic happens to the structure of omega 6 vegetable oils when they are exposed to heat. Because of the way the oils are structured, these polyunsaturated fats, when they are heated up they break down and produce a high concentration of aldehydes. This is a highly toxic chemical that is linked to cancer, heart disease, dementia, malformations during pregnancy, inflammation, ulcers, and elevated blood pressure. Studies have shown that meals fried in vegetable oils contained 100 to 200 times more aldehydes than is deemed safe by WHO (5). Neuroscience Professor John Stein of Oxford has stated that, "the human brain is changing in a way that is as serious as climate change threatens to be". He believe that consuming a high ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 forces the brain to use the omega 6 instead of the omega 3 in order to function and pushes the omega 3 out of the brain in order to switch to using omega 6 for development. In doing so, the brain does not function properly, and this could be leading to the increase in mental health issues we see throughout our society today. The good news there are other cooking alternatives, coconut oil actually produces the lowest amount of aldehydes when exposed to heat, even when compared to animal sources such as butter and lard. This is because coconut oil contains a small amount of omega 6 but is mainly comprised of saturated fat. But even animal fats such and ghee, butter and lard are great sources of fats to cook with and much healthier and beneficial than using vegetable oils.
I hope this article was helpful in shedding light on the confusing subject of fatty acids and the great vegetable oil debate. If you enjoyed this article, follow me on Instagram to keep up with all my new posts.
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