Omega-6 / Omega-3 Ratio Topic

U1190458989 08/27/21
It would be nice if the app showed the amount of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in foods and how much is consumed in a day. I have no idea what I’m getting.

Omega-3 and omega-6 are both types of polyunsaturated fats, and are both essential nutrients. But people eating the “standard American diet” are said to typically get an unhealthy balance of around a 17:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. I’ve heard that it’s preferable to get a 4:1 or less ratio.

See this article:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/optimize-omega-6-omega-3-ratio

Regarding having too much omega-6, it says:

“chronic inflammation may be one of the leading drivers of the most serious modern diseases, including heart disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and many types of cancer”

It would be good to see these values in the app and set a target ratio goal.

Au_tavares 08/28/21
I agree ✅

U1190479115 08/28/21
I agree too

U1186498051 08/29/21
Well I’m thinking this article supports the need for those nutrients to be recorded. “You do better when you know better”
RAM

U1190458989 08/30/21
I see that the most recent app update now includes omega-3 and omega-6. That’s helpful.

U1190458989 09/01/21
I noticed that the iOS app will round off the omega values that you enter for foods (and maybe it does this for all other values as well?). That will make things less accurate, particularly in computing an omega-6 / omega-3 ratio. I’d recommend that the app should not round off the values, and should instead preserve the real number.

For example, let’s say that for a 10g serving of a food that omega-6 is 1.51 and omega-3 is 1.49. The correct ratio is about 1.01. But if 1.51 is rounded to 2 and 1.49 is rounded to 1, the ratio incorrectly becomes 2.0.

A way around this if you are entering new food nutrition information would be to increase the portion size. For example, if you make the serving be 1000g, omega-6 151, and omega-3 149, then you preserve the values from rounding and get the correct 1.01 ratio.

Dietician 09/02/21 replied to U1190458989
Omega-3 and Omega-6 nutrients are being displayed as mg in MyNetDiary, so the round up or down to a whole number is appropriate. However, if the units of measure you are seeing are grams, not mg, then the round up/down to a whole number is a mistake - it should keep the 10th decimal place (x.y grams).

Thanks for sharing your feedback - I'll ask Support to make sure the rounding is correct.

Omega-6 / Omega-3 Ratio