A Global Call for Scientific Attention to Essential Fatty Acid Balance

Scientific Community

Continue investigating essential fatty acid exposure, biomarkers, biological effects and health outcomes.

Health Professionals

Strengthen professional education and awareness around essential fatty acids and their physiological roles.

Public Institutions

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Scientific Statement

Global Scientific Statement on Essential Fatty Acids, Lipid Composition, and Human Health

To Heads of State, Ministers of Health, Directors of International and Regional Health Agencies, and Leaders of Global Food and Agriculture Systems:

We, the undersigned scientists and clinicians working in lipid biology, nutrition, metabolism, developmental neuroscience, resolution pharmacology, and the endocannabinoid system, write to draw your attention to a critical but addressable aspect of modern human nutrition: the altered intake and biological handling of essential fatty acids, particularly omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and their impact on human physiology across the life course.

Our aim is not to declare a simple “villain” nutrient, but to underscore that current dietary patterns and food systems have created a biochemical milieu without historical precedent, and that this milieu may have important implications for inflammation, neurodevelopment, cardiometabolic disease, and healthy aging. We believe this warrants coordinated national and international assessment, guidance, and education.

Established Foundations

Essential Fatty Acids: What Is Not in Dispute

There is broad scientific agreement that:

1. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are both essential.
   They are required for membrane structure, cell signaling, neurodevelopment, immune function, and the production of a wide range of lipid mediators, including eicosanoids and specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs).
2. Individual fatty acids are not interchangeable.
   Linoleic acid (LA), arachidonic acid (ARA), gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) each have distinct structures, metabolic fates, and biological effects. Treating “omega-6” or “omega-3” as homogeneous categories can obscure important differences in risk and benefit.
3. Requirements change across the lifespan.
   For example, arachidonic acid and DHA are especially critical during fetal development and early childhood for proper brain, eye, and immune development, and inadequacy in these windows can have lifelong consequences.
4. Modern dietary patterns differ substantially from those in which human physiology evolved.
   Agricultural practices, animal feed composition, food processing, and global supply chains have altered the fatty acid composition of both plant oils and animal-source foods, often increasing certain omega-6 species and reducing long-chain omega-3s.
5. Many human populations studied today are not nutritionally “ideal.”
   Evidence suggests that current reference ranges may reflect populations with altered fatty-acid profiles, micronutrient insufficiencies, and chronic low-grade inflammation.

Why This Matters for Public Health and National Capacity

Essential fatty acids participate in:

• regulation of inflammation and its resolution,
• brain development, cognition, and mental health,
• cardiovascular and metabolic homeostasis,
• immune competence and host defense,
• the function of systems such as the endocannabinoid system.

When intake patterns and tissue composition of these fatty acids are substantially shifted—whether by high LA intake, low EPA/DHA intake, altered animal feeds, or ultra-processed dietary patterns—there is concern that inflammatory responses, neurodevelopmental trajectories, and cardiometabolic risk profiles may be negatively affected.

These issues affect educational attainment, workforce productivity, and long-term health expenditure trajectories of every nation.

Scientific Transparency

Areas of Active Scientific Discussion

The undersigned acknowledge ongoing scientific debate, including:

• Individual omega-6 fatty acids behave differently and should not be grouped into a single category.
• The meaning and usefulness of a single “omega-6:omega-3 ratio” without specifying fatty acids, tissues, or context.
• Age-dependent requirements and windows of vulnerability (pregnancy, early childhood, aging).

These open questions strengthen rather than weaken the case for coordinated action. They highlight how much is at stake and how much clarity is still needed.

Recommended Action

What We Urge Governments and International Bodies to Do

A Call for Leadership

A Call for Coordinated, Evidence-Based Leadership

This statement is not a call for simplistic dietary prescriptions or for blaming any single nutrient. It is a call for recognition that modern fatty acid patterns differ substantially from those that shaped human physiology; for transparent assessment of their relationship to disease burden and human potential; and for leadership in aligning agriculture, food policy, and health systems with biological needs.

The potential gains in health, cognition, resilience, and national prosperity could be generational.

Respectfully,