Omega6:Omega3 ratio

I know that eating more of either omega 6 fats or omega 3's as compared to the other can be a bad thing so I was wondering what is an optimal ratio. I'm not sure what exactly I eat that has these types of fats in them, I think just peanut butter and fish oil capsules, oh and almonds, and I'm not sure how much of these fats are in these foods. I usually have about 1oz almonds, 1.5 Tbs. Natural Peanut Butter, and 6 fish oil caps a day. Should I limit anything or is this ratio ok? Really not sure

You need more omega 3 than 6.

ddawg said:

I know that eating more of either omega 6 fats or omega 3's as compared to the other can be a bad thing so I was wondering what is an optimal ratio. I'm not sure what exactly I eat that has these types of fats in them, I think just peanut butter and fish oil capsules, oh and almonds, and I'm not sure how much of these fats are in these foods. I usually have about 1oz almonds, 1.5 Tbs. Natural Peanut Butter, and 6 fish oil caps a day. Should I limit anything or is this ratio ok? Really not sure

Click to expand...

You want to try to get as close to a 1 : 1 ratio as you can, but anything under 1 : 3 (omega-3 : omega-6) is ok. Usually western diets have more omega-6 fats than omega-3 fats and it can be as bad as 1 :30 (omega 3 : omega 6)!

Your omega-3 fats are hard to find from normal foods. It is found in TINY amounts in some foods (legumes, vegetables, egg), but these are really insignificant - your best sources are your fatty fish (cold water salmon, sardines etc) and there is some in linseeds and wanuts - but these also have omega-6 fats in them.

Omega-6 you find in lots of things. Nuts, seeds, grains, meat products, eggs, legumes.... Almonds have a fair bit and peanut butter is very high in omega-6 fats, so you don't want too much - unless you are not getting omega-6 from anywhere else.

With your almonds, PB and fish oils... Well, this is not too bad. But maybe try to use walnuts or linseeds instead of your PB sometimes.... or you could include some fatty fish into your diet as well.

How about Cashew butter?

XcelKrush said:

How about Cashew butter?

Click to expand...

Cashews are not that good in terms of nuts (damn shame because they are tasty as hell).

Cashews - Per tbs (~15g):
Calories ~ 95
Carbs 4.5g (and only a fraction of this is fibre - about 0.2g)
Protein 2.5g
Fats 8g
~ 1.7g saturated
~ 5g monounsaturated
~ 1.33g polyunsaturated - with 1.3g omega-6 and 0.03g omega-3 (130: 3)

That is compared to

walnuts - per 15g:
Calories ~100
Carbs: 2g carbs (1g of which is fibre)
Protein: 2.5g protein
Fats: 9g
~ 0.8g saturated
~ 1.3g monounsaturated
~ 7g polyunsaturated - with 5.5g omega 6 and and 1.5g omega-3 (11 : 3)

Almonds - (per 15g):
Calories ~100
Carbs: 3.5g carbs (0.5g of which is fibre)
Protein: 2.5g protein
Fats: 9g
~ 1g saturated
~ 6g monounsaturated
~ 2g polyunsaturated - with 1.93g omega 6 and and 0.07g omega-3 (~190 : 7)

Walnuts are my first choice as well if you want to eat nuts. You could incorporate walnut oil too if you dont want to eat the nuts.

So just a general question, what would be my ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's if I got all of them from consuming this in a given day. (I know I get more from other sources but just assume all of them come from these foods in a given day)

1.5 Tbs. Peanut Butter
1 oz Walnuts
6-8 fish oil caps

ddawg said:

1.5 Tbs. Peanut Butter
1 oz Walnuts
6-8 fish oil caps

Click to expand...

1.5 tbs PB =
1.5 x 2.4g (amount per tbs of omega-6) = 3.6g omega 6
1.5 x 0.01g (amount per tbs omega-3) = 0.02g omega 3


1 oz walnuts =
2 x 5.5 = 11g omega 6
2 x 1.5 = 3g omega 3


7 fish oils (average of 6-8)
It depends on the concentration of your capsules... and I am unsure of the other fats present... But usually -
1g cap = ~180mg EPA + 120mg DHA + I think ~300mg of other omega-3s
So 7g = 4.2g omega 3

** I am not sure if these have omega-6 in them (it would be very small if there was)**

TOTAL:
Omega 3: 7.22g
Omega 6: 14.6g
Ratio of 3 : 6 is therefore ~1 : 2

That is a complete guestimate because of:
1. all the other foods you eat have levels
2. not sure of the fish oils