Hello, this is Monica Reinagel, and you're listening to episode number 493 of the nutrition

diva podcast.

Welcome. Our topic this week is omega six fats. How much of these

essential fatty acids do you actually need? Jennifer writes, I've been using an online food diary to track my daily intake of various vitamins and minerals,

and the information has definitely motivated me to eat more vegetables.

However, my tracker reveals that I am consistently

deficient in omega-6, usually only getting around half

of the recommended 12 grams per day. I can't find any

information on the consequences of getting too little omega six. Is deficiency a

problem? And if so, what's the healthiest way to increase my intake on a mostly vegetarian diet?

Well first Jennifer it's somewhat likely that your tracker may be

under estimating the amount of omega-6 or linoleic acid in your diet.

You see most trackers rely on multiple sources for their nutrition data.

They usually start with the USDA's food nutrient database, which includes

extremely detailed nutrient information for thousands of foods.

But the USDA database doesn't include all the latest brands and new products.

So trackers often supplement that with nutrient data provided by manufacturers.

And they might also allow their users to create entries for foods using the

information on the nutrition facts label and then sharing that with other users.

But manufacturer and user-sourced data usually doesn't include information on the amount of

omega-6 fats, because those aren't required to be listed on the nutrition facts label.

I'll also point out that user added entries have the additional problem of being

...