o-6 in olive oil

[Greg Davis]

I take down quite a bit of olive oil some days.. I just happened to be looking up some nutrition data and noticed the plentifulness o-6 fatty acids.

1 tbsp olive oil
Total Omega-3 fatty acids 103 mg
Total Omega-6 fatty acids 1318 mg
(according to nutritiondata.com)

Thats a very strong ratio in favor of o-6.. is this a big threat to throwing off my o3/o6 balance? or are the type of poly fats in olive oil of a different type that its less concerning than the o-6s found in say vegetable oils or grain-fed butter?

For example:
1 tbsp ordinary butter
Total Omega-3 fatty acids 44.1 mg
Total Omega-6 fatty acids 382 mg

If were talking purely o-3 to o-6 ratios for a moment.. unless there is something I'm missing, the good ole practice of swigging olive oil seems like a bad idea..

[Mike ODonnell]

Ummmm.....re-check your data...Olive Oil is like 70%+ MUFA and like 11-12% PUFA

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c208D.html

[Greg Davis]

Yeah theres lots of MUFA in there but yea im looking at that data..

(i selected 1 tbsp)

and for the 10-11% or whatever PUFA.. thats whats showing..

[Mike ODonnell]

K...I get what you are talking about now. (I was assuming you were saying Olive oil was primarily Omega6, my bad)

The total omega-6 essential fatty acids are found under the "Fatty acids - total polyunsaturated" and are designated as "18:2 undifferentiated" for linoleic acid and "20:4 undifferentiated" is arachidonic acid.

If you look at the chart, the majority of the omega 6 is the 18:2 or linoleic acid (LA) and not the 20:4 or arachidonic acid (AA).

Now here is where it gets fun. AA is a worse (and mostly the inflammation messenger) than LA. LA is higher up the conversion chain while AA is at the bottom for omega 6s. LA is converted to GLA-DGLA-AA. LA is more found in veg oils, AA more in grain fed meats. GLA is actually anti-inflammatory. Not all GLA/DGLA is converted into AA. DGLA-AA conversion is blocked by EPA (Omega 3) and other things like "Turmeric", DGLA-AA conversion is promoted by insulin.

So really you are looking for more 4:1 ratio of 6:3 and primarily from LA sources (not AA in meats). Plus the EPA and low insulin will keep conversion to AA minimal and promote anti-inflammatory GLA. Many people find relief from inflammation by taking GLA directly as well as adding in Olive Oil (of course not by the gallon load though). But as noted above, insulin is the main factor and can easily turn a friend (GLA) into a foe! (GLA has also been noted to improve skin as well...so that's why we need some Omega 6s...just skip the grain fed meats/eggs as that is the source of AA which does nothing but bad things)

.....and yes....I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.