Thanks for the informative article. I struggle with the references to things our ancestors have done or what their ratios may have been, because to my understanding they had much shorter life spans. What are we aspiring to?
Love it! When I tested my 3's Vs 6's I was surprised that my 6's were much higher. I realized that my go-to snack every day was almond butter on celery. almonds have a high omega 6 content, as you mentioned. I cut that out and added a bit more supplement and tested 3 months later and boom - better than perfect:-). Amazing how great it is to test! Thanks for another great article!
While your concerns about w-6 are well taken, I am afraid that in the face of reality of what is naturally present, what is available etc, these guidelines lack practicality. Let me explain.
w-6 is every where in nature. You cannot run away from it. Excepting fish oil, coconut oil, butter, palm kernel oil ( not palm oil) that contain less than 3% of w-6 and olive oil about 8%, all free oils known, dozens of them, regardless of their origin ( seed, fruit, land meat), have 10% to about 75% of w-6. For example, lard 12%, soybean 50%, beef tallow 38%, avacado 16%, canola 21%, peanut 24%, sesame 42%, cotton seed 48%. Regular sunflower oil (60%), safflower oil ( 75%) are super rich in w-6. And one will be consuming other groceries, vegetables and fruits which will all provide some small oil content for our daily bodily needs and you can be sure that they will provide their own small load of w-6. Unless you eat only boiled fish 3 times a day, with some dairy and small levels of common kitchen staples ( bread, rice, lentils) and veg/fruits, it is impossible to keep the ratio of 6/3 below 3. Out of some disgust, you eat only seared fish three times a day, using other oils, and mind you we cannot use normal olive oil for high temp cooking, the ratio can easily go to 10 or more. You also know there is no worthwhile w-3 in the plant oils category, just a few (e.g. flaxseed) contain the less efficient ALA. And fish oil w-3 being highly unsaturated is liable for decomposition in high temperature cooking. So you cannot be talking of an ideally close ratio, unless you limit w-6 to extraordinary levels. I am surprised that this gentlemen got this ideal ratio by skipping almond oil for three months. Would be of interest to know ( scientifically) what were his major consumptions in these three months.
Saturates too are every where, 20-40% common in almost all oils. Coconut and Palm kernel carry a lot more, 75% type. They were the villains in one era, when the seed oils began to be pushed. Now the tables have turned and there is more research confirmation too. They are not to be worried about. Whatever one gets to consume in the normal scheme of things, it is okay. Lard and butter ( or ghee) can always be part of kitchen staples.
That leaves us with the most preferred option, consuming oils rich in olive oil. Their oleic acid ( w-9) has no bearing on the ratios. Olive oil, avacado oil, peanut oil to name a few and now the high oleic sunflower oil, almost rivalling olive oil in the MUFA levels. One need not worry about a ratio of 15 or 20 something here, because they will be coming from the smaller part of the composition. With lots of fish, their use can be made really safe with a lower ratio.
I do not understand this tirade against seed oil, even while recognising the need to limit w-6. At an average acceptable level of consumption of fats/oils ( free, combined, naturally present all put together) of about 15 gms per day per person and with an average w-6 content of about 30%, people must clearly establish formation of unacceptable levels of inflammation markers and their long term implications, before openly castigating seed oils, with this level of exposure to w-6. And professionals like you, while advising the public, must clearly mention conditions under which w-6 were excessively pro inflammatory. This is science and cannot be held with motherhood views. I am from India and many countries in Asia and Africa have been using seed oils for millennia. Peanut, sesame, mustard to name a common few. Generations have lived normally and flourished with no recorded population level health scares about excess inflammation. I feel this tirade as well as the fuss about the ratio do not take into account the fact many traditional cuisines and civilisations of the world, many prominent ones, that have based themselves largely on seed oils. Japanese, probably the most healthy population in these parts of the world, are no doubt fish centric, but their main oil is sesame oil, with about 42% of w-6. I have not seen any discourse of anxiety in them about limiting w-6 or including more w-9. It must be admitted that their recipes use the process of steaming or cooking in water substantially.
Final word. Whatever oil/oils you eat, moderation is the key. More than the oils, it is excessive consumption of processed, packaged foods that is the root cause for many food related health woes today. No health discussion can be complete without talking about their role.
Thanks for your comment. I note the part about the lack of practicality in a modern diet and you are right. You need to avoid commercially fed/grown animals or you will definitely have omega 6 (you are what you eat, eats).
Peanuts and legumes are not recommended to eat. Moulds and enzyme Inhibitors.
Thanks for your kind brief response. I was expecting a much more considered a response.
I wasn’t referring to lack of practicality in modern diet, but in your overall guidelines. What we eat today, had always existed, including w-6. While food habits were attuned to more localised availability, today there is substantial cross cultural movements. Such developments have been more helpful to humanity. India, where I am from, is the oldest still thriving culture in the world. Chillies, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Onions were not known here until about 400 years ago. You are aware that these four are the staples in any cuisine in the world today. Yet, India could be the largest consumer of these and may be producer of these today and they are so integral to our very large cuisine today, having blended so easily in our traditions.
This tirade from the West on seed oils seems ill conceived. This is only of recent origin, may be less than 2 decades old. For 3-4 decades before that, PUFA oils which were mainly seed oils, were the word in cardiac health until recent year. Now the story gets to be overturned. This of course included both w-3 ( mainly from fish) and w-6 from many sources - nuts, seeds, beans (legume). These oils have served humanity for millenia, without precipitating any population level health crisis about inflammation excess. I mentioned about India earlier. China has been consuming soybean for over 2000 years and for most part it was whole beans including its 20% oil content with 55% w-6. Like us, Japan consumes mainly sesame oil as its main oil. There is no raging debate here on w-6 and no demonisation of seed oils. We all can keep a watch on consumption of w-6, mainly with moderation, but the jury is still not out on them. If at all, it is still some 20-30 years of sustained research and follow up.
On the consumption pattern of pre historic humans, you seem to emphasise much on fresh fish consumption. This is only for those who lived close to water. Majority must have sustained themselves only on land based meat, hunting whatever animals and birds they could hunt. And of course whatever wild plant material and vegetation they could identify, probably observing primates, herbivores and even birds. It is not possible to return to such kind of menu today, even with modern twists, simple because of the needs of the huge population bursting at the seams. We should not try to live in dreams of those distant past.
Please don’t chain yourself to any dogmas. Subject to your live medical conditions, consume whatever you like, you have and you enjoy. In moderation. Including processed foods occasionally.
I am not a doctor. I am 80, an old hand PhD in organic chemistry. Long retired from a long industry R&D career. I began my career with just a five year stint in edible oils, but has held that subject close to my heart for over 45 years now.
Let me explain one more point which is not realised in the West, important nonetheless with slowly emerging trends. W-3 options for vegetarians.
About two thirds of India’s 1.4 billions are vegetarians, about 0.9 billion. This is world’s largest vegetarian population. If you add small numbers from around the world, I would think that about 1.4 billion out of World’s 7 plus billion could be vegetarians- no meat of any kind, dairy ok, eggs ok for some. Without fish, what is their effective source of w-3 ? Plant based w-3s are extremely limited, like flaxseed which are not regularly consumed either. They are not effective biologically. Yet for millennia, vegetarians have survived and flourished. It means that body mechanisms can adopt themselves without w-3. So, how critical is w-3 as a nutritional requirement ? . Based on this very old food history, we have to conclude that w-3 is not critical, desirable though.
For vegetarians, the major source of proteins are lentils, a whole range of them. These are legumes. Nuts and dairy compliment the pack and for some eggs as well. How can they sustain themselves without lentils ? You wouldn’t recommend lentils for the meat eating population of the West, but I find lot of others asking for part replacement of meat atleast with lentils. Among a host of reasons is the fact that organised meat production in bulk is getting to be environmentally fraught. You need to look beyond your shoulders as to how you frame your recommendations.
Thanks for your comments Moro. I am concerned with what the right diet for a human based on their genes is. I appreciate that people may choose to have whatever they like and want and that's their prerogative but that doesn't make it the best food for them, nor is is something I need to address or I would be here forever explaining how to change diets to suit everyone's choice. That's not my job.
The longest lived cultures, the blue zones, all eat meat with just one exception and they eat fish. Just because vast swathes of people do it, doesn't make it healthy.
I am not sure if there could be diet options, right to the human genetic make up. Such a thing may not be desirable at all. From the first humans appeared on earth, their genes must have evolved along with their evolving food sources and there must be total compatibility between the two. This must include the last 20000 years when they were not only spread all over the world, but also developing organised food sources etc. It means the genes have very broad based character that they can accept a huge variety of food sources. In the ancient culture of India ( where I am from), the ancient wisdom is to consume whatever is available and grown in one’s regions, even though meat, poultry, dairy and fish could be common to all. This advice is also linked to the climatic conditions and season of the geographies. Thus it is wholistic, is largely followed. This must be true of many geographic cultures of the world. Yes, there is some amount of cuisines and food habit diffused into the whole world, this diffusion is still happening, but it is in order, because the established options and choices are well entrenched. The bane of modern food culture is too much of processed foods and overeating too, these spreading slowly from the affluent West to the large developing, often still poor world. This must be contained before it becomes a scourge for humanity.
New subscriber, now unsubscribing. Moment I see you think grains unhealthy, never mind the stereotypical but wrong bashing of seed oils, means you are just like masses social influencers without evidence. Good bye.
Just eat your SMASH folks, but do eat lots of fibre which includes whole grains (just minimised the refined carbs).
Anyone wanting learning more about safety and even health of seed oils, check these
If you saw the blood lipids of some of the people I am working with currently and the ratio of Omega 6 to 3 and what they are suffering, then I don't think you would have the heart to say there was no evidence - just check who is paying for the research in support for those seed oils! Wishing you well!
Thanks for the informative article. I struggle with the references to things our ancestors have done or what their ratios may have been, because to my understanding they had much shorter life spans. What are we aspiring to?
We are aspiring to the diet that our genes evolved to express best health in
Love it! When I tested my 3's Vs 6's I was surprised that my 6's were much higher. I realized that my go-to snack every day was almond butter on celery. almonds have a high omega 6 content, as you mentioned. I cut that out and added a bit more supplement and tested 3 months later and boom - better than perfect:-). Amazing how great it is to test! Thanks for another great article!
Thanks for your insights Don! Hope you enjoy part 2 put today
What supplement did you add ? Please
Very high quality fish oil. I like the one from Sports Research. 1250 total, 1055 omega-3's.
While your concerns about w-6 are well taken, I am afraid that in the face of reality of what is naturally present, what is available etc, these guidelines lack practicality. Let me explain.
w-6 is every where in nature. You cannot run away from it. Excepting fish oil, coconut oil, butter, palm kernel oil ( not palm oil) that contain less than 3% of w-6 and olive oil about 8%, all free oils known, dozens of them, regardless of their origin ( seed, fruit, land meat), have 10% to about 75% of w-6. For example, lard 12%, soybean 50%, beef tallow 38%, avacado 16%, canola 21%, peanut 24%, sesame 42%, cotton seed 48%. Regular sunflower oil (60%), safflower oil ( 75%) are super rich in w-6. And one will be consuming other groceries, vegetables and fruits which will all provide some small oil content for our daily bodily needs and you can be sure that they will provide their own small load of w-6. Unless you eat only boiled fish 3 times a day, with some dairy and small levels of common kitchen staples ( bread, rice, lentils) and veg/fruits, it is impossible to keep the ratio of 6/3 below 3. Out of some disgust, you eat only seared fish three times a day, using other oils, and mind you we cannot use normal olive oil for high temp cooking, the ratio can easily go to 10 or more. You also know there is no worthwhile w-3 in the plant oils category, just a few (e.g. flaxseed) contain the less efficient ALA. And fish oil w-3 being highly unsaturated is liable for decomposition in high temperature cooking. So you cannot be talking of an ideally close ratio, unless you limit w-6 to extraordinary levels. I am surprised that this gentlemen got this ideal ratio by skipping almond oil for three months. Would be of interest to know ( scientifically) what were his major consumptions in these three months.
Saturates too are every where, 20-40% common in almost all oils. Coconut and Palm kernel carry a lot more, 75% type. They were the villains in one era, when the seed oils began to be pushed. Now the tables have turned and there is more research confirmation too. They are not to be worried about. Whatever one gets to consume in the normal scheme of things, it is okay. Lard and butter ( or ghee) can always be part of kitchen staples.
That leaves us with the most preferred option, consuming oils rich in olive oil. Their oleic acid ( w-9) has no bearing on the ratios. Olive oil, avacado oil, peanut oil to name a few and now the high oleic sunflower oil, almost rivalling olive oil in the MUFA levels. One need not worry about a ratio of 15 or 20 something here, because they will be coming from the smaller part of the composition. With lots of fish, their use can be made really safe with a lower ratio.
I do not understand this tirade against seed oil, even while recognising the need to limit w-6. At an average acceptable level of consumption of fats/oils ( free, combined, naturally present all put together) of about 15 gms per day per person and with an average w-6 content of about 30%, people must clearly establish formation of unacceptable levels of inflammation markers and their long term implications, before openly castigating seed oils, with this level of exposure to w-6. And professionals like you, while advising the public, must clearly mention conditions under which w-6 were excessively pro inflammatory. This is science and cannot be held with motherhood views. I am from India and many countries in Asia and Africa have been using seed oils for millennia. Peanut, sesame, mustard to name a common few. Generations have lived normally and flourished with no recorded population level health scares about excess inflammation. I feel this tirade as well as the fuss about the ratio do not take into account the fact many traditional cuisines and civilisations of the world, many prominent ones, that have based themselves largely on seed oils. Japanese, probably the most healthy population in these parts of the world, are no doubt fish centric, but their main oil is sesame oil, with about 42% of w-6. I have not seen any discourse of anxiety in them about limiting w-6 or including more w-9. It must be admitted that their recipes use the process of steaming or cooking in water substantially.
Final word. Whatever oil/oils you eat, moderation is the key. More than the oils, it is excessive consumption of processed, packaged foods that is the root cause for many food related health woes today. No health discussion can be complete without talking about their role.
Thanks for your comment. I note the part about the lack of practicality in a modern diet and you are right. You need to avoid commercially fed/grown animals or you will definitely have omega 6 (you are what you eat, eats).
Peanuts and legumes are not recommended to eat. Moulds and enzyme Inhibitors.
Thanks for your kind brief response. I was expecting a much more considered a response.
I wasn’t referring to lack of practicality in modern diet, but in your overall guidelines. What we eat today, had always existed, including w-6. While food habits were attuned to more localised availability, today there is substantial cross cultural movements. Such developments have been more helpful to humanity. India, where I am from, is the oldest still thriving culture in the world. Chillies, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Onions were not known here until about 400 years ago. You are aware that these four are the staples in any cuisine in the world today. Yet, India could be the largest consumer of these and may be producer of these today and they are so integral to our very large cuisine today, having blended so easily in our traditions.
This tirade from the West on seed oils seems ill conceived. This is only of recent origin, may be less than 2 decades old. For 3-4 decades before that, PUFA oils which were mainly seed oils, were the word in cardiac health until recent year. Now the story gets to be overturned. This of course included both w-3 ( mainly from fish) and w-6 from many sources - nuts, seeds, beans (legume). These oils have served humanity for millenia, without precipitating any population level health crisis about inflammation excess. I mentioned about India earlier. China has been consuming soybean for over 2000 years and for most part it was whole beans including its 20% oil content with 55% w-6. Like us, Japan consumes mainly sesame oil as its main oil. There is no raging debate here on w-6 and no demonisation of seed oils. We all can keep a watch on consumption of w-6, mainly with moderation, but the jury is still not out on them. If at all, it is still some 20-30 years of sustained research and follow up.
On the consumption pattern of pre historic humans, you seem to emphasise much on fresh fish consumption. This is only for those who lived close to water. Majority must have sustained themselves only on land based meat, hunting whatever animals and birds they could hunt. And of course whatever wild plant material and vegetation they could identify, probably observing primates, herbivores and even birds. It is not possible to return to such kind of menu today, even with modern twists, simple because of the needs of the huge population bursting at the seams. We should not try to live in dreams of those distant past.
Please don’t chain yourself to any dogmas. Subject to your live medical conditions, consume whatever you like, you have and you enjoy. In moderation. Including processed foods occasionally.
I am not a doctor. I am 80, an old hand PhD in organic chemistry. Long retired from a long industry R&D career. I began my career with just a five year stint in edible oils, but has held that subject close to my heart for over 45 years now.
Let me explain one more point which is not realised in the West, important nonetheless with slowly emerging trends. W-3 options for vegetarians.
About two thirds of India’s 1.4 billions are vegetarians, about 0.9 billion. This is world’s largest vegetarian population. If you add small numbers from around the world, I would think that about 1.4 billion out of World’s 7 plus billion could be vegetarians- no meat of any kind, dairy ok, eggs ok for some. Without fish, what is their effective source of w-3 ? Plant based w-3s are extremely limited, like flaxseed which are not regularly consumed either. They are not effective biologically. Yet for millennia, vegetarians have survived and flourished. It means that body mechanisms can adopt themselves without w-3. So, how critical is w-3 as a nutritional requirement ? . Based on this very old food history, we have to conclude that w-3 is not critical, desirable though.
For vegetarians, the major source of proteins are lentils, a whole range of them. These are legumes. Nuts and dairy compliment the pack and for some eggs as well. How can they sustain themselves without lentils ? You wouldn’t recommend lentils for the meat eating population of the West, but I find lot of others asking for part replacement of meat atleast with lentils. Among a host of reasons is the fact that organised meat production in bulk is getting to be environmentally fraught. You need to look beyond your shoulders as to how you frame your recommendations.
Thanks for your comments Moro. I am concerned with what the right diet for a human based on their genes is. I appreciate that people may choose to have whatever they like and want and that's their prerogative but that doesn't make it the best food for them, nor is is something I need to address or I would be here forever explaining how to change diets to suit everyone's choice. That's not my job.
The longest lived cultures, the blue zones, all eat meat with just one exception and they eat fish. Just because vast swathes of people do it, doesn't make it healthy.
I am not sure if there could be diet options, right to the human genetic make up. Such a thing may not be desirable at all. From the first humans appeared on earth, their genes must have evolved along with their evolving food sources and there must be total compatibility between the two. This must include the last 20000 years when they were not only spread all over the world, but also developing organised food sources etc. It means the genes have very broad based character that they can accept a huge variety of food sources. In the ancient culture of India ( where I am from), the ancient wisdom is to consume whatever is available and grown in one’s regions, even though meat, poultry, dairy and fish could be common to all. This advice is also linked to the climatic conditions and season of the geographies. Thus it is wholistic, is largely followed. This must be true of many geographic cultures of the world. Yes, there is some amount of cuisines and food habit diffused into the whole world, this diffusion is still happening, but it is in order, because the established options and choices are well entrenched. The bane of modern food culture is too much of processed foods and overeating too, these spreading slowly from the affluent West to the large developing, often still poor world. This must be contained before it becomes a scourge for humanity.
New subscriber, now unsubscribing. Moment I see you think grains unhealthy, never mind the stereotypical but wrong bashing of seed oils, means you are just like masses social influencers without evidence. Good bye.
Just eat your SMASH folks, but do eat lots of fibre which includes whole grains (just minimised the refined carbs).
Anyone wanting learning more about safety and even health of seed oils, check these
https://youtu.be/-xTaAHSFHUU?si=kgWzeo3zKqigHZvd
If you saw the blood lipids of some of the people I am working with currently and the ratio of Omega 6 to 3 and what they are suffering, then I don't think you would have the heart to say there was no evidence - just check who is paying for the research in support for those seed oils! Wishing you well!