The importance of omega fatty acids in your diet can’t be ignored. Omega-rich foods are crucial in my diet and omega supplements are a non-negotiable staple in my supplement stack. If you want to optimise your health, you may want to pop them in yours too. Here's why:

It is said that we evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of approximately 1:1 [ 1 ]. In Western diets, this ratio is now said to be at least 10:1, with some sources suggesting that some individuals have a ratio as high as 25:1.

Essentially, we are getting too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3. And it’s making us sick.

These shockingly high ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 are one of the reasons why many diseases that are caused by or linked to inflammation (arthritis, allergies, heart trouble, Alzheimer’s, depression and cancer) are becoming epidemics in Western countries.

I have a chronic condition myself, Cystic Fibrosis, which is characterised and worsened by inflammation. So I’ve learnt as much as omegas from how to optimise your omega-3 to omega-6 balance and omega-3 and -6 testing, to the different types of omega supplements.

Unsurprisingly, the deeper I delved, the more questions I had and no single book, journal or web page could answer them all comprehensively. So this article pulls most of what I learnt together in a way that I hope will help you too. For that reason, it’s a bit of a long one - more of a guide, really (okay, it's an absolute monster of an article!) - but I’ve done my best to split it up into easy-to-digest sections. 

I hope that you learn at least one thing from it and that it inspires you to make simple changes to improve your health long-term.