Stealth Sources of Omega 6 Linoleic Acid

Edition: 2021-03-29
Note: although this basenote is publicly-visible, some links and responses may be UIC members-only, or to premium external sources.

Contents

Introduction (context for this discussion) Potential ω6LA Hazards (not a short list) Obvious Sources of ω6LA (for those unfamiliar with Undoctored and Wheat Belly) Plain Sources of ω6LA (for those unfamiliar with Undoctored and Wheat Belly) Stealth Sources of ω6LA (for those familiar with Undoctored and Wheat Belly) ω6LA Reduction Checklist (for those familiar with Undoctored and Wheat Belly) Olive Oil Tips

	Introduction

This may be just precautionary fine tuning, or might turn out to be important. In either case, if you’ve decided to take a hard look at your Omega 6 linoleic acid intake (ω6LA hereafter, aka 18:2 ω6 cis,cis-9,12 or n-6), this article might be of some use.

The Undoctored/Wheat Belly program cautions about ω6LA, most recently in
Clarity on omega-6 fatty acids (on WB Blog, UIC mirror)
“You don’t want omega-6 overload, but you also don’t want omega-6 deficiency. The ideal omega-6:omega-3 index (i.e., the ratio of omega6:omega-3 in cells of the body, such as red blood cells) is 2:1 or less and closer to the historical level of 1:1 that prevailed prior to the agricultural age. …”

Measuring Omega 6:3 ratio (and Omega 3 Index) is probably pointless during weight loss, as the weight being lost is mobilized stored fat, and fat that represents the prior diet, likely high in ω6LA. But the program guidance is clear:
   minimize or eliminate added ω6LA.
You’re going to get ample from nuts, recommended seeds, fish, meats, eggs and some dairy.

The production of industrially refined oils from non-food seeds appears to have started with cottonseed oil in 1857, but was explosively extended to other grains and legumes over the past half century. These sources are very high in ω6LA. The composition of human fat reflects this, as do waistlines, but the obesity problem has more factors than just so-called vegetable oil.

If you don’t know how much ω6LA you are consuming, you might want to find out. There’s some chance that it’s too much. If following the Undoctored or Wheat Belly program hasn’t delivered all of the health benefits you expected, and everything else has been ruled out, stealth ω6LA may be playing a role, at the very least preventing you from attaining your desired ω6:ω3 ratio. Those familiar with the concerns about ω6LA, and the usual sources of it, can just skip down to Stealth Sources of Excess LA.

The potential hazards of excess ω6LA are for the most part not recent developments. A 1963 paper discusses it, and that may not be the oldest: Plasma Lipid Fatty Acids During Fasting Am J Clin Nutr

A team of investigative scientists has also turned up that two landmark trials used to prop up the early cholesterol hypothesis, in failing (I’m being charitable) to publish their data, hid not just that lower cholesterol correlated to reduced lifespan, but that doing it by replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats high in ω6LA was probably a factor.

Various fatty acids, including the poly-unsaturated (PUFA) ω6LA and ω3s are generally considered “essential”, or an EFA. It is true that humans cannot synthesize the EFAs. But if we are on an LCHF diet, we probably do not need to deliberately attend to getting ample ω6LA. Specifically assuming that more is better would be a serious mistake (and deliberately consuming oils with excess ω6LA has been a key part of government and consensus medicine “low fat” policy over the last several decades).

It is thought that ancestral human intake of ω6:ω3 was in a ratio of near 1:1. The proportion of ω6 doubtless began rising with agriculture (grain seeds are high in ω6), ramped up during the 20th century, and accelerated in the last several decades (due both to dietary policy and due to refining it from subsidized crops). Many populations are now at ω6:ω3 ratios as high as 18:1. The trend line for the production and consumption of industrial seed oils (the majority of the so-called vegetable oils) is a perfect correlate to trends in many chronic non-infectious ailments — this may be no coincidence. Return to ToC

	The Potential ω6LA Hazards

I personally consider low-fat mania to be the #3 problem in modern diet, behind #2 (added sugars) and #1 (grains, wheat in particular). The low-fat mania problem itself breaks down into several parts:
• low overall fat consumption,
• groundless saturated fat phobia,
• excess PUFA intake (ω6LA in particular), and
• some residual trans-fat exposure (now in decline, fortunately).

An Undoctored forum user has a useful page about PUFAs, with links to various papers on the conjectured etiologies. It’s also been discussed in this forum, most recently at: How much 18:2 ω-6 linoleic acid do you really want to eat?
There are other pundits tallying the potential issues, such as Tucker Goodrich.

Adverse effects of excess ω6LA may include, but are not limited to:

• inflammation
• competes with ω3 where you need it
• cancer correlations (mitochondrial disruptor?)
• strongly suspected in CVD
• may be inherently obesogenic (distorts insulin resistance)
• strongly suspected in AMD
• suspected in dysbiosis due to anti-microbial properties. These oils are actually used as pesticides afield.
• thyroid/liver effects: above a specific ω6LA titer, the liver, in response to thyroxine, decreases beneficial fatty acid synthesis and inhibits glycogen depletion (demonstrated in rodents)

What are the direct effects on important lab tests, such as hsCRP, HDL, LDL-P and Lp(a)? Finding unambiguous data seems unlikely, primarily due to trials confounded by diets uncontrolled for carbohydrate consumption, or not including an arm on a diet anything like what is advocated here. N=1 trials may be the near term alternative (that would be you).

That Transtronics page includes a list of PUFA oils, and their ω6LA content. I consider 15% to be a rough upper limit for an oil suitable for routine use, unless it has a favorable ω6:ω3 ratio, or other redeeming factor(s). Return to ToC

	Obvious Sources of ω6LA

The following oils have no place in an Undoctored or Wheat Belly pantry (as oils):
Black Cumin Seed, Canola (and Rapeseed), Corn, Cottonseed, Grape Seed, Hemp, Linseed, Peanut, Pistachio, Poppy Seed, Pumpkin Seed, Safflower, Rice Bran, Soybean, Sunflower, Wheat Germ.
This is just on the basis of ω6LA content. Some of these oils present additional content issues as well.

Many of the above have further problems due to how they are processed. See the unintentionally notorious How It’s Made video on canola for an example. High temperatures cause oxidation. Chemical solvents can end up as residues. Deodorants may be added, along with BHA and BHT.

Oils that might be OK for light or occasional use are:
Almond, Sesame, Walnut

Some of the above are fine as whole seeds, whole nuts or flours, including almond, hemp, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and peanuts (limited).

Recommended oils, that meet or are below my 15%LA cut-off are:
Avocado (ONLY if credible), Butter (grass-fed), Coconut, Flax, Ghee, Hazelnut (*), MCT, Olive (ONLY if credible), Macadamia (*), Palm (*). Return to ToC

	Plain Sources of ω6LA

Once attuned to minimizing ω6LA, the following sources are relatively easy to identify and avoid, usually by examining both the Nutrition Facts panel and the Ingredients list:

• The majority of processed ready-to-eat foods contain oils high in ω6LA, not to mention grains, added sugars, preservatives, emulsifiers, food coloring, flavorants and other junk.
   
• The majority of condiments contain oils high in ω6LA, including spreads (margarine), salad dressings, mayonnaise, and non-dairy mimic products. Low-fat versions of these may have less or no LA, but may be expected to be high glycemic instead.
   
• Restaurant meals must be presumed to have been prepared in or with adverse ω6LA oils, unless specifically disclaimed (and price does not protect you on this).
   
• Cooking sauces and fillings require close examination: tartar, hollandaise, etc. are likely to be soy slimes.
   
• Supplements in capsule form often contain soybean or other adverse oil.

Nutrition Facts and Ingredients disclosures never call out ω6LA specifically, by the way. Even at Nutritiondata.self.com, their detailed Fats and Fatty Acid breakdowns for foods and products may show the 18:2 content under Polyunsaturated Fat but fail to tell you the name of that (or any of the other fatty acids). So expect little help on avoidance in processed food-like substances. Return to ToC

	Stealth Sources of Excess ω6LA

If you are using a food oil for its health benefits, don’t buy something that is providing health hazards instead — because it isn’t what the label claims.

Avocado and Olive oils are already known to be at extreme risk of not being what they claim. In its 2021 update to its EVOO testing, ConsumerLabs (CL) passed only 3 of the oils they tested. See the Olive Oil Tips below for how to navigate this minefield.

The avocado oil situation is even more dire. As of the latest update to the present article, CL had yet to publish a test, but they did turn up this very disturbing 2020 paper:
MDPI: Analysis and Authentication of Avocado Oil Using High Resolution NMR Spectroscopy
Three of the oils tested tested as almost certainly being entirely mis-labeled soybean oil.

When cheap industrial grain and legume oils can be tarted up with flavorants, colorants and deodorants, and sold as much higher priced trendy-oils, they will be. This means that hazelnut, macadamia and palm oils are likely also at high risk of being counterfeit. Part of the problem here is not just the financial incentives, but that national nutrition nannies think all “vegetable“ oils are just peachy for health, so what’s the big deal?

The already-alert ω6LA detective also needs to be on the lookout for LA arriving unannounced via:

• This olive oil problem applies to any processed food product that purports to contain olive oil. You may safely assume that any major brand product listing olive oil as an ingredient is at some risk of not containing what they want you to think it does. The more prominent the mention of OO, the more likely they think they are pandering to a fad that doesn’t matter, and thus doesn’t merit any real attention to quality control.
   
• Almost any oil, used for any purpose, in a restaurant meal, is going to be a cheap industrial seed oil. Go for baked or grilled dishes, not fried. Ask for sauces and dressings on the side. As infrequently as I eat at Chipotle, their use of rice bran oil isn’t that great a hazard.
   
• What passes for “butter” in restaurants, both on the table and in the kitchen, is often a butter/PUFA blend, and may be expected to be CAFO butter as well.
   
• CAFO meats have a more adverse ω6:ω3 ratio. Curiously, this is not due to higher ω6, but because the ω3 is driven to nil. However, the absolute levels of omegas in muscle meats are so low that this is not a major issue. So avoid CAFO meats, and seek grass-fed pastured (pasture-finished) organic due to second-hand growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticide residues, etc.
   
• Getting back to using lard or tallow? Make sure it’s grass-fed. In one test, CAFO lard was found to be over 16:1 ω6:3, vs. 1.4:1 for grass-fed. The grass-fed was also lower in natural trans fats. Your bacon needs to be pastured as well.
   

That will cover most situations. If it doesn’t:

• Don’t go nuts on the nuts. Excessive consumption of even almonds can present an elevated ω6LA exposure.
   
• If you are eating fish to get ω3 DHA&EPA, make sure you actually get it. Fish, unless a species that cannot be farmed, or credibly claimed to be wild caught, must be presumed to be farmed, and fed the same sort of ω6LA-laden chow that terrestrial critters suffer, which ends up in the fish fat, and adversely increases the ω6:ω3 ratio. Cross tilapia off your menu entirely.
   
• If you won’t eat CAFO bacon or steak, don’t drink CAFO milk/cream, don’t use CAFO butter, and maybe not eat CAFO cheese. Grain-fed cows produce milk with a much higher ω6:ω3 ratio, unless the cows are getting ω3 supplements, which may be presumed to be ALA, and which probably does nothing to reduce the ω6 content. However, ω6LA content in the milk may be a secondary problem compared to the beta casein A1 issue. rBST frets are further down the list. Again, seek organic, grass-fed, pastured, A2 (goats and sheep are A2).
   
• If you’re really determined to drive down ω6LA, another common source is chickens, and their eggs. ω3 is not the only nutrient depressed in CAFO eggs. Seek pastured organic eggs. Although chicken and eggs, even pastured organic, have an unfavorable ω6:ω3 ratio, the fat content is also low, so the ω6LA absolute content is low.

 Return to ToC

	ω6LA Reduction Checklist

Omega 3 Index and Omega 6:3 ratio are two tests suggested when there are concerns on this topic. These provide a baseline for assessing the results of any dietary adjustment. If you are presently loosing weight, these tests might be misleading, as they may be biased toward the profile of fat stores, and not current diet.

Even when weight stabilizes, it may take some time for the Omega tests to reflect eventual status. What you are eating is going in. What’s coming out may have been eaten long ago. The half-life of adipose fat has been conjectured to be as high as 600 days (but this is disputed).

To re-cap, to reduce your exposure to ω6LA, take the following steps:

• Get ample Omega 3 DHA & EPA. This is normally going to mean supplementing. ω6:3 ratio matters.
• Stop buying, and discard all of the "no place in your pantry" oils listed earlier.
• Stop consuming any processed foods that contain those oils.
• Major offenders in processed foods are salad dressings (almost all of them), mayonnaises (almost all of them) sauces, dips, etc.
• Check your capsule supplements for the above oils, and switch to other formulations on re-order.
• Stop consuming deep-fried restaurant dishes, which may be presumed to have been cooked in, and loaded with, one of the above oils, in a well-oxidized if not rancid form. Think twice about sauteed or otherwise pan-fried.
• Do not use restaurant butter, unless packaged with credible claims (unlikely).
• Do a background check on your seed oils. This is likely to result in discarding it, and switching to something with a credible provenance.
• Seek credibly wild-caught fish, and not packed in oil, as any claim of even olive oil cannot be relied on.
• Minimize consumption of peanuts, and especially most peanut butters (which have added ω6LA and emulsifiers).
• If you have any of the following oils (as refined oils), mark them "Use Sparingly": Almond, Sesame, Walnut
• Seek pasture-raised pasture-finished organic land animal products, including dairy and eggs. If you don’t know, you must assume the source is CAFO, which may be expected to be high in ω6LA, low in ω3, and bear second-hand antibiotics, second-hand hormones, plus pesticide uptake.
• If Omega blood tests remain unfavorable, consider moderating pork intake, and…
• On chicken, favor the white meat, which is very low in ω6LA.

 Return to ToC

	Olive Oil Tips

Here are the criteria I’d apply (and with a lead-off from Dr. Davis):

1. Real extra-virgin olive oil should be peppery and make you cough and have a vegetal scent and flavor.
2. Required: Country of Origin (USA, and USA only, which is almost always going to be California, although the California Olive Ranch DESTINATION, line, lacking content from Tunisa or Spain, passed CL testing)
3. Required: Ingredients list containing only olives
4. Required: bottle material dark glass (not plastic)
5. Required: harvest date
6. Extra credit: fatty acid breakdown
7. Extra credit: organic (this appears to be hard to find)
8. Window-dressing: non-GMO (all olives are non-GMO, so getting certified is a needless expense)

Terms like “extra virgin”, “cold-pressed”, “first-press”, and even “organic” do not protect you on this. Price does not protect you on this (but a quality US domestic oil won’t be cheap). “Light”, “premium”, “pure” and “natural” might be warning labels.
___________
Bob Niland [disclosures] [topics] [abbreviations] Return to ToC