Focus on a balance of omega-6 and -3 for better health, says new report

The group of experts believe a better balance of omega-3 and -6 in the diet is a more effective way of improving health than current nutrition policies, which focus on calories and energy expenditure and have “failed miserably over the past 30 years,” say Dr. Artemis Simopoulos of the Center for Genetics, Nutrition, and Health, Washington DC, and Dr. James DiNicolantonio of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas. Recent years have seen an increased production of vegetable oils high in omega-6, such as sunflower, safflower and corn oils, and animal feeds changing from omega-3-rich grass to grain, resulting in high levels of omega-6 in the meat, eggs and dairy in the food supply for the first time in the history of human beings. Although we do also need a sufficient amount of omega-6 in the diet, human beings evolved to eat equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.