The controversy over 6:3 ratio has been further extended by the establishment of revised Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) guidelines for omega-6 and omega-3 fats in 2005. These guidelines set a target range of 12-17 grams for linolenic acid (LA), the essential omega-6 fatty acid that forms the starting point for production of all other omega-6 fatty acids. They also set a target range of 1.1-1.6 grams for alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the essential omega-3 fatty acid that is the starting point for production of all other omega-3 fatty acids. When it comes to these two essential omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, the DRI guidelines in effect have set forth a 6:3 ratio of 10:1 or 11:1. In actual practice, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average U.S. diet contains approximately 15 grams of LA and 1.5 grams of ALA, for a 6:3 ratio of approximately 10:1 in the case of these two essential fatty acids.
Lower 6:3 ratios appear to offer potential health benefits. For example, a ratio of 6:1 has been associated with decreased risk of certain cardiovascular problems. A ratio of 3:1 or 2:1 has been associated with decreased inflammatory activity in healthy subjects who achieved this ratio by following a Mediterranean-style diet.
So, how can you go about lowering your 6:3 ratio? One excellent approach is to look for foods in your diet that are relatively high in omega-6s and low in omega-3s.
For an example, let's take almonds. With no omega-3s and about 4-5 grams of omega-6s per cup, your almonds are a member of the nut family with the highest possible 6:3 ratio. Once you've located a food like almonds with a very high 6:3 ratio, look inside of that same food group (in this case nuts) for a food with the most possible omega-3s. In this case, walnuts would make an outstanding choice within the nut group because walnuts have about 2.25 grams of omega-3s per quarter cup and a 6:3 ratio of about 4:1. Just by replacing almonds with walnuts, you could make an important shift in your 6:3 ratio.
Here's one specific example to show you how just making one simple substitution can really make a difference:
Let's start with a situation in which your diet is already pretty healthy, but does not contain a healthy balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. Let's say that you are eating about 1,800 calories per day, and that you are getting about 20 grams of omega-6 fat and 2 grams of omega-3s for a ratio of 10:1. Throughout the day, several different foods are probably contributing to this overall ratio. Let's also say that one factor in your overall fat consumption is the vegetable oil you are using on your dinner salad, and in this example, I'll say you are making your dinner salad using 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil. One tablespoon of sunflower oil contains about 4 grams of omega-6s and only .005 grams of omega-3s.
Now let's say that instead of using sunflower oil, you substitute 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, which has about 7 grams of omega-3s and about 1.75 grams of omega-6s. By making this swap from sunflower oil to flaxseed oil, you will be lowering your omega-6 intake by about 2.25 grams (to a level of 17.75 grams), while simultaneously increasing your omega-3 intake to about 7 grams. This simple change from sunflower oil to flaxseed oil will be changing your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio from 8:1 to approximate 2.5:1!
Source: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=65
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