Guide to Essential Fatty Acids & the Skin
We get essential fatty acids ('essential' meaning our bodies can't produce them, so they must be obtained through the diet) in the form of omega 3 (EPA, DHA, ALA) and omega 6 (GLA) fatty acids, which are types of PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids). We get plentiful omega 6 through the diet from meat, dairy, poultry, nuts, seeds, & most packaged food products. The issue is, the Western diet contains anywhere from an omega 6:3 ratio of 12:1 to 30:1 or more, when really the ideal ratio to aim for with dietary omega 6:3 is 1:1 so that our bodies have equal capacity to turn on, and soothe inflammation. A high omega 6 ratio is a recipe for inflammation!
Fatty acids form part of each of our cell membranes, so in acne, this creates dehydrated skin cells (think of raisins rather than juicy grapes), which have poorer cell to cell communication, and reduces their nutrient absorption capacity. Omega 6 also changes sebum consistency/quality to make it thicker and more gluggy (and thus more likely to block the follicle and cause a pimple!), and is also detrimental for insulin receptor sensitivity which is necessary for blood sugar regulation.
Omega 3 is needed to block omega 6 fatty acid conversion into pro-inflammatory mediators that cause inflammation both locally in the skin, and systemically! All in all, omega 3s aren't needed just for inflammatory skin conditions like acne, Rosacea, eczema and Perioral dermatitis, but also for all conditions associated with inflammation (hint- that's pretty much everything, including period pain, metabolic and cardiovascular function, autoimmune conditions etc).
INCREASE: your consumption of omega 3 rich, anti-inflammatory foods such as flaxseed (ground & stored in the fridge), cold-water oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, oysters, chia seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, Cod liver oil, & anchovies.
For the BEST quality tinned/jarred fish, check out Good Fish https://good- fish.com.au
Make sure that at home, you are using olive oil/extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), grass-fed butter or ghee to cook in (coconut oil is also okay to cook in, in moderation), and cold-pressed oils like EVOO, hemp seed oil or flaxseed oil as dressings/to drizzle.
As you can see, unless you are eating bucketfuls of sardines, your omega 6:3 ratio is probably less than ideal, hence why SUPPLEMENTATION is very important, especially when it comes to inflammatory conditions such as acne give how drastically omega 3 can improve the pathophysiological processes that underpin pimple formation.
AVOID all vegetable and industrialised seed oils including canola, sunflower, peanut, rice bran, sesame, grapeseed, soybean, corn and margarine including Nuttelex. These oils are highly processed and inflammatory & contribute to inflammation & chronic disease. Please also keep peanut butter to a minimum! Opt for almond or ABC butter in its place- and if you like to snack on nuts, make sure you mix your nuts up (e.g don't always eat one type of nut only). Start reading ingredients lists on all packaged items from the supermarket (such as granola bars, dips, faux meats, cereals, cookies, dressings, sauces), vegetable/seed oils are hidden in everything as they are cheap! Avoid these products. As well as packaged food items, please be aware of other places inflammatory vegetable oils are hidden such as: many alternative milks such as the almond milks you may get with a takeaway coffee, takeaway food and fried food is often cooked in vegetable oil because it’s cheap (do as much home cooking as possible), & tinned fish (often ‘tuna in oil’ means canola oil!).
QUALITY COUNTS: you can reduce the inflammatory potential of the high omega 6 sources you do eat regularly (meat, fish, butter, yoghurt, eggs etc) by opting for high quality, organic, pasture-raised, wild-caught & grass-fed where possible. We want the animal that the food source you are eating comes from (the fish, chicken, cow, pig etc) to have eaten its NATURAL diet when it was alive. For example, you want to opt for wild-caught rather than farmed salmon who ate other small fish, krill etc rather than soy pellets when it was alive. An animal that has eaten its natural diet produces a less inflammatory animal product or by-product.
A note on Omega 3 supplementation: it can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks for EPA/DHA supplements to be incorporated into skin cell membranes. Omega 3s are a skin supplement that is actually recommended long-term in most cases, whereas a lot of other herbal & nutritional supplements I use in my clinic are only for shorter periods of time. Quality really matters when it comes to fish oils, and you get what you pay for, so ensure you are only supplementing under the guidance of a qualified practitioner and they have gotten you onto a high quality product, and results-driven dose.
PHOEBE ACKLAND (BHSc NATUROPATH) is a naturopathic practitioner available via Zoom, for 1:1 consultations, Australia-wide.