Why Too Much Omega 6 Causes Inflammation and Disease – And 5 Tips For a Healthy Balance

Most of us get too much omega 6 nearly every day.What’s wrong with that? Omega 6 is inflammatory to the body.The fact that everyday foods contain so much omega 6 has been linked to high rates of heart attacks, strokes, irregular heartbeat, arthritis, obesity, cancer, and many other conditions.Nutrition scientists say our regular daily diets often contain 20 times as much omega 6 as omega 3 fatty acids. A healthy diet would be nearly equal amounts.Some good news: This is easy to improve, once you know the facts.Why too much omega 6 is common and how to prevent itMost vegetable oils and most popular cooking oils have very high levels of omega 6. Soybean, corn, cottonseed and sunflower oils are among the highest in omega 6. They are also among the most common oils used in popular prepared foods and in cooking oil.Bread, bagels, potato chips, cookies, cakes, candy bars — most prepared foods from the supermarket — hamburgers, pizza, other fast food, most restaurant meals — all contain too much omega 6.How did that happen? And what should you do about it?It happened because we’ve been misled about the amount of omega 6 we need — but mostly because omega 6 oils are the cheapest oils on the market.Now, some omega 6 fats are essential. No one wants to eliminate them (almost impossible in developed countries, anyway). The problem is too much omega 6.Five tips for balancing omega 6 and omega 31. Make some easy changes first. Don’t try to throw out all your eating habits.2. Add a few healthy things. Most of us know that vegetables, fruits and salads are good for us, but do nothing about it. Try adding just one of each, once a week.3. If you’re a fast-food regular, once a week take a salad with grilled chicken to work. Why not just choose a salad at the burger joint? Fast-food restaurants almost always put the worst oils in their salad dressings (they’re the cheapest).4. Choose better oils. When you have a choice, pick olive oil, canola oil and coconut oil over the ones above. Butter is better than margarine, believe it or not: Butter is very low in omega 6, most margarine oils are very high.5. Add omega 3. If you like fish, once or twice a week eat salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, anchovies or other fish high in omega 3. And take a quality fish oil supplement. The best fish oils are very high in omega 3, and most of us don’t get enough. Look for fish oil that is molecularity distilled, highly concentrated (50 percent or more DHA and EPA) and from the purest, freshest fish.