Omega-6s Have A Bad Reputation — Here's What You Should Know About Them

When you hear "omegas," chances are you think of omega-3s (you know, the good-for-you fats found in fatty fish that are vital for everything from heart health to immunity).*

They're not the only omegas out there, though—and the next best-known essential fatty acids, omega-6s, don't have quite as sunny a reputation.

Honestly, if you had to sum up the situation with omega-6s in a couple of words, you might go with "it's complicated." You see, in recent years, omega-6 fats have been slapped with the scarlet letter of having "pro-inflammatory properties"—but, as with most things in health and nutrition, there's more to this story than meets the eye.

Omega-6s aren't inherently bad. In fact, your body needs some omega-6s (in fact, there's a daily nutritional requirement for omega-6 linoleic acid1 because our body can't synthesize it).

Omega-6 fatty acids are a type of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid—PUFA, for short. What makes them unique is that the sixth carbon from the end of their string of carbons and hydrogens (which is what makes fats, well, fats) is missing a hydrogen (hence the name omega-6), explains dietitian Scott Keatley, R.D., of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy.

For one, omega-6s are "generally considered beneficial for heart health" because they support healthy levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol, explains Dana Ellis Hunnes, Ph.D., MPH, R.D., adjunct assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and author of the upcoming Recipe for Survival: What You Can Do To Live a Healthier and More Environmentally Friendly Life.

They also play a role in blood sugar regulation by promoting cells' sensitivity to insulin, which is important for metabolic health, Hunnes adds.

Omega-6s even serve an important purpose for our immune system. "They are critical for helping cells mount an immune response when needed, and they help keep your blood from clotting too fast or slow," highlights William S. Harris, Ph.D., president and founder of the Fatty Acid Research Institute.

Though it might sound bad that omega-6s are "the building blocks of inflammatory markers," Keatley says, "these pathways are an important defense mechanism that is used to help us regenerate and heal."

Remember, since they're considered essential, we rely on food for the appropriate supply of omega-6s our bodies need.

According to Gans, all sorts of foods—including corns, nuts, seeds, meat, and poultry—contain omega-6s. And though you'll find them in plenty of whole foods, omega-6s are most famously (or should we say infamously) found in vegetable oils.

The core issue is where (and how much of) those oils end up in our food supply. "Vegetable oil is used a lot in baking and can also be found in a lot of packaged goods," Gans says.

And because so much of the standard American dietary pattern sadly consists of packaged and processed foods, soybean oil (a common ingredient in them), in particular, is the "single largest source" of omega-6s for most people, notes Harris.

Clearly, omega-6s are important for a number of healthy body functions—but there are a couple of layers beneath their not-so-shiny reputation.

At the core is this: Research3 suggests that throughout human history, our diet consisted of a ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s somewhere around 2:1 or 1:14—and that maintaining the proper balance of these two types of omegas is necessary for health.*

Thing is, the average Western diet has strayed far (and we mean far) from that ratio, surpassing an alarming 15:1 or some estimates say 20:1. The reason for this extreme shift? The rise of highly processed foods and thus our intake of omega-6s.

Studies show that consumption of soybean oil in the United States increased by more than a thousand-fold5 throughout the last century. Talk about a clear trend.

"As with anything, too much of something good can become bad," Keatley notes. It's when we have too many omega-6s compared to omega-3s, he suggests, that it becomes a problem.

When this happens, omega-6s essentially get in the way of the wonderful anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3s. Bottom line: They're counterproductive.

Of course, minimizing your intake of fried and highly processed foods is a good move for your health for more reasons than just cutting back on omega-6s (i.e., maintaining gut health, blood sugar, and more).

As a general rule of thumb, Hunnes recommends sticking to a maximum of 1 to 2 tablespoons of foods containing omega-6s per day. "That might look like eating an ounce of sunflower seeds and cooking with a modest amount (i.e., tablespoon) of sunflower oil, for example," she says.

Other oils to limit include corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, and grapeseed oil.

Whenever possible, opt for cooking oils lower in omega-6s, such as olive, avocado, and coconut oils, plus everyone's favorite, EVOO.

Harris, meanwhile, suggests that you "leave your omega-6 intake alone and increase your intake of 'fatty' or 'oily' fish sources, like anchovies, salmon, sardines, herring, and albacore (white) tuna" in order to tip the scales back into a better balance of omega-6s to omega-3s. (Salmon, for example, has a 1:11 ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s, while anchovies6 have a 1:15 ratio, Keatley points out.)

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating two 3.5-ounce servings of fish (preferably the fatty variety Harris mentioned) per week as a baseline recommendation for the general population.

By the way, that two-fish serving delivers about 500 milligrams of marine omega's EPA and DHA. That said, few people actually consume this much fish. Over 90% of Americans7 aren't consuming this baseline recommendation, so we're looking at a national opportunity for improvement here.

It's important to mention that the AHA recommends higher amounts (1 gram-plus of EPA and DHA daily) for focused heart-health support.*

That's the equivalent of consuming about an omega-3-rich fish a day, which is why a high-quality omega-3 supplement that delivers a potent and pure source of EPA plus DHA may be helpful for many.*

The issue with omega-6s that much of the Western world faces is that we consume far too many of them, primarily through processed foods.

So, making diet and supplement routine adjustments to achieve a more balanced ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s is an important and worthwhile move.