Why alpha-linolenic acid matters more than you thinkDecember 15, 2025
Alpha-linolenic fatty acid supports energy production, oxygen delivery, healthy cell membranes, circulation, immunity, calmer mood, smoother skin, reduced inflammation, and overall vitality throughout the body.
Some fats are absolutely required for health, while others are detrimental. Some fats heal, others kill.
If we get the right kinds of fats in the right amounts and balances, they build our health and keep us healthy. The wrong kinds of fats, the wrong amounts or balances cause degenerative diseases that we call diseases of fatty degeneration. We can reverse diseases of fatty degeneration by making appropriate changes in fat choices and consumption, and by supporting these important changes with attention to other nutrients in our food supply. In order to maintain health, avoid disease, and regain health once we have lost it, we need to change our consumption of fats, oils, and other fatty substances. If we want to avoid premature death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and if we want to avoid the suffering of arthritis, obesity, premenstrual syndrome, and certain types of mental illness, we need to take this last and least well-understood area of human nutrition into full account in our food choices. To do that, we must become informed. In our frenzy to avoid killer fats, we can easily forget the fats that heal. The key compositions of healing fats are the essential fatty acids (EFAs), their names are linoleic acid (LA) and alpha- linolenic acid (LNA). Function of Linoleic Acid (LA) and Alpha-Linolenic Acid (LNA) Energy production EFAs are involved with producing life energy in our body from food substances, moving that energy throughout our systems. They govern growth, vitality, and mental state. They hook up oxygen, electron transport, and energy in the process of oxidation. Oxygen transfer EFAs can be linked to oxygen ‘magnets’ that pull oxygen into our body. LA and LNA appears to hold oxygen in our cell membranes, where oxygen acts as a barrier to viruses, fungi, bacteria, and other foreign organisms that cannot thrive in its presence. Membrane components EFAs are part of all cell membranes. They help hold proteins in the membrane, thus they are involved in the traffic of substances in and out of our cells via protein channels, pumps, and other special mechanism. They also help create electrical potentials across membranes which, when stimulated, transmitting messages. Prostaglandins EFAs are precursors of prostaglandins. Some prostaglandins affect the tone of smooth (involuntary) muscles in our blood vessels, some lower blood pressure, some relax coronary arteries, and some inhibit platelet stickiness. Other LNA functions LNA produces smooth, velvety skin, increase stamina, speeds healings, increase vitality, and brings a feeling of calmness. LNA reduce inflammation, water retention, platelet stickiness, and blood pressure. LNA enhances some immune functions, reduce pain and swelling of arthritis, and completely reverses premenstrual syndrome in some cases. What is the ideal Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio (W6:W3 ratio)? The desired Omega-6:3 ratio is 3:1. People who don’t have an Omega-3 supplement can record a ratio of up to 25:1. Even those who eat fish regularly and take Omega supplements test far from the target value, which is 3:1. This is not the fault of individuals but rather a sign of a broken global food system and supplements that are missing vital ingredients for the nutrients to be properly absorbed in the body. Omega-3 (W3) consumption has decreased to one sixth the level in our food supply. Omega-6 (W6) consumption has double, drastically changing the ratio of W6 to W3 in our food supply. This change is reflected in the makeup of our tissue fats and in our health. Over long term, what ratios would be healthy? W6:W3 ratios found in diets varies from 1:2.5 (Inuit diets), through 6:1 (other traditional diets), to 20:2 (contemporary safflower and corn oil diets). Inuit are relatively healthy, but many of them suffer strokes, probably due to deficiency of vitamin C and E, and osteoporosis due to high protein intake, which leaches calcium from bones. Other traditional diets keep users free of degenerative diseases. Contemporary diets cause degenerative conditions. The W6:W3 ratio in the brain is about 1:1. The ratio in our fat tissue is about 4:1. To get equal conversion then, the ratio in foods should be 4:1, but because W6s mediate degenerative conditions, the ratio should favour W3s. Such ratios can be developed by blending W3-rich oil with W6s ones to arrive at the appropriate ratio. A low ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids is extremely common in modern Western diets. This low ratio may have important clinical implications, since these classes of fatty acids compete with each other in a number of biochemical pathways. A relative deficiency of Omega-3 fatty acids in the Western diet may explain why Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation has been reported to be beneficial for a wide range of common medical conditions. What does a high Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio mean? Restoring an out-of-balance Omega-6:3 ratio should be a priority. A body in balance means normal brain, heart, immune and cell function. A diet deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids can negatively impact health in several ways. The hard fact is most people don’t realize they’re living out of balance. Omega-3 fatty acids may be useful for preventing and/ treating the following conditions. Cardiovascular
Dermatological
Gastrointestinal
Dyslexia
Psychiatric
Rheumatologist
Others
The relatively high ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids in modern Western diets might explain in part why so many different health conditions have been reported during the past few decades to improve with fish oil supplementation. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that tissue and/or blood levels of people with these diseases are often low nw3 EFA; nor is it surprising that this set of diseases respond well to dietary increases in W3 EFA, and to improvements in the dietary intake of the essential minerals and vitamins required for EFA metabolism. Omega-6:3 ratio blood test (Omega balance test) This is the power of personalized nutrition. While there are recommended daily intakes of fatty acids, there’s no one-serving-for-all. Instead of guessing a ratio, the Omega balance test accurately measures an individual’s fatty acid profile. It’s a dried blood spot test from the global health and wellness brand Zinzino that provides you with accurate readings of 11 fatty acid levels in your blood. The analysis is independently managed, and the results are completely anonymous. The test includes personalized recommendations and guidelines on how to restore the essential Omega-6:3 balance in your body and move forward on your health journey. How to balance Omega-3 and 6 Harmonizing the Omega-6:3 ratio is a two-pronged approach. The first and most important step is to make sure your diet includes healthy sources of Omega-3. If you need to bridge the nutritional gap with supplements, use BalanceOil+ – an all-natural signature blend of pure fish oil, extra virgin olive oil with polyphenols, and vitamin D3. It is scientifically proven to gently readjust the Omega-6:3 ratio. With 15 EFSA-approved health benefits, from the head to the heart, BalanceOil+ transforms cells from the inside out. In parallel with the 120-day BalanceOil+ regime, making dietary changes will help to re-balance your body. Reduce processed, packaged foods of convenience and prioritize sources of Omega-3. For example, fatty fish, algae, flax seed oil, spinach, Brussels sprouts, blueberries, and walnuts. When grocery shopping, stick to the perimeter of the store where all the wholefoods are. Repeat the balance test in 120 days and see how close to 3:1 you get. |
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