Research

Hormonal

Maintaining tissue n-6 highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) levels below 50% of total HUFA (by shifting the n-6/n-3 balance toward n-3) reduces the risk of coronary heart disease mortality, whereas levels above 50% increase risk.

Focus on balancing your intake of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids. Aim to reduce the proportion of n-6 fatty acids (found in many vegetable oils) relative to n-3 fatty acids (found in fish, flax, walnuts) in your body tissues. This balance is a stronger predictor of heart disease risk than cholesterol levels alone.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
People with more than 50% n-6 in tissue HUFA (and less than 50% n-3 in HUFA) have a greater risk for CHD mortality than those with less than 50% n-6 in HUFA.
Bill Lands · Progress in Lipid Research · 2014

Why this rating

Based on cross-cultural epidemiological data (Seven Countries Study) and tissue biomarker correlations across diverse populations, though observational.

Source

Historical perspectives on the impact of n-3 and n-6 nutrients on health

Bill Lands · Progress in Lipid Research · 2014

DOI 10.1016/j.plipres.2014.04.002

narrative_reviewCited 140×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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