Okay, so we’ve all heard about how the average American diet has something like a 20:1 Omega 6:3 ratio, but we should strive for somewhere around 4:1 or 3:1. We are told that eating healthy fats like fish oil, flax oil, nut oils, olive oil, etc. will help achieve this goal. So I wanted to find out what ratio my current diet would give me. And from the information that I can find, fish and flax oil have good ratios, but walnut, almond, and olive oil have crappy ratios. So why are these oils pimped as being good omega-3 sources? Wouldn’t consumption of these only serve to push your omega ratio further out of whack?
[quote]KyleB wrote:
So why are these oils pimped as being good omega-3 sources?
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They’re not. Or, rather, if someone is touting them to be good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, they aren’t. As you have observed, they contain primarily omega-6 as a percentage of their polyunsaturated fat content. However, the amount of polyunsaturates in these is relatively low as compared to the amounts of monounsaturated fats, in terms of grams. Using these as sources of monounsaturates should be your primary reason to include them in your diet.
[quote]Wouldn’t consumption of these only serve to push your omega ratio further out of whack?
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Not really, because again, they contain relatively small amounts of omega-6, even though omega-6 makes up most of their polyunsaturated fat content. By removing fats which contains large amounts of omega-6, such as corn oil, and using these fats instead, you should still notice a reduction in the total amount of omega-6 because these oils you mention contain largely monounsaturates. With the addition of fish oil to bump up your omega-3 intake, you should be much closer to the desireable ratio.
What want to avoid are the sources of fat which are primarily polyunsaturates, with almost the entirety being omega-6. Monounsaturated fat sources such as olive oil just don’t have a large amount of polyunsaturated fat, even if the majority of the polyunsaturates are omega-6.
You are correct, walnuts are touted as a good omega-3 source, but in reality they are a good omega-6 source, i use them with beef meals along with some flax and fish oil to get a perfectly balanced fat ratio as beef is pretty much 50-50 saturated and mono-unsaturated fat (there is a little omega-6, but negligible at 2.3% of total fat).
In general most people get enough omega-6 if they eat nuts and animal protein and should seek to limit oils with significant omega-6 content and focus on adding flax-seeds and fish oil to remedy the balance. The best oils for cooking are macadamia, olive, and avocado. If the saturated fat content of the meal is low, consider butter or coconut oil.