Sunflower Oil and Inflammation

Published:  09/02/2018

Ah, the cheerful sunflower. The bright yellow petals are sunny and cheerful and evoke memories of summer.

It's unfortunate that the oil of the sunflower is an unhealthy omega-6 type fatty acid. High levels of omega-6 increase the inflammation inside your body.

Sunflower oil, just one of the omega-6 oils, is not good for health because it promotes inflammation. This is very bad for your health. Inflammation is correlated with heart disease, cancer and every disease in between! This is why it is so important to minimize the amount of omega-6 you consume in your diet

Omega-6 is found in meats, prepackaged, processed foods, butter, cheese, pastries and is used in frying, and fast-foods. It is so widespread I can almost promise you that if a food comes in a package, you'll find sunflower oil on the ingredient list.

Americans tend to get too many omega-6 and not enough super-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids which help reduce inflammation. Before we introduced processed food into our food supply, people got a more healthy balance of omega-6 to omega-3. The best ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids suggested for good health is 1 to 1, in other words, you should consume equal parts of each type of oil. Unfortunately, the average Western diet provides large amounts of omega-6 and small amounts of omega-3. The typical American diet tends to contain 14 - 25 times more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids. The Institute of Medicine says that “based on limited studies,” a “reasonable” ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s is between 5-to-1 and 10-to-1.

If you typically eat meat, packaged foods or fast foods, your ratio is likely way off. This is very problematic because high levels of omega-6 increase the inflammation inside your body.

And even a little omega-6 in your diet can negate the good omega-3 you happen to consume, especially if you get your omega-3 from plant sources and not fish. Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids compete to use the same conversion enzymes. This means that the quantity of omega-6 in the diet directly affects the conversion of omega-3 ALA, found in plant foods, to long-chain Omega-3 EPA and DHA, which protect us from inflammation and disease.

So, our goal is to decrease our omega-6 intake because there are several clinical studies have shown that decreasing the Omega 6:Omega-3 ratio protects against chronic, degenerative diseases. One study showed that replacing corn oil (another harmful Omega 6) with olive oil and/or canola oil to reach an Omega-6:Omega 3 ratio of 4:1 led to a 70% decrease in total mortality. That is a huge difference!

You can cut down on omega-6 levels by reducing consumption of processed and fast foods and polyunsaturated vegetable oils (sunflower, corn, safflower, soy, and cottonseed, for example). At home, use extra virgin olive oil for cooking and in salad dressings. Eat more oily fish or take dha/epa fish oil supplements, eat walnuts, flax seeds, and omega-3 fortified eggs. Your ratio will probably be relatively low if you have a healthy diet—one that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes, contains a moderate amount of fish, and limits processed and fast foods.

There are healthy eating plans like The Mediterranean diet which has a healthier balance between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Many studies have shown that people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet are less likely to have heart disease. The Mediterranean diet does not include much meat, butter, fried, or processed foods, and emphasizes foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, seafood, olive oil, as well as moderate wine consumption.

To learn more about food as medicine view this video presented by Dr. Greger. Dr. Greger has scoured the world's scholarly literature on clinical nutrition and developed this new presentation based on the latest in cutting-edge research exploring the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing some of our most feared causes of death and disability.    http://nutritionfacts.org/video/food-as-medicine/

Death in America is largely a foodborne illness. Focusing on studies published just over the last year in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, Dr. Greger offers practical advice in this video on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse many of the top 15 killers in the United States.  http://nutritionfacts.org/video/uprooting-the-leading-causes-of-death/

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