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Author: ‘This is not a healthcare problem; it is a public health issue and a planetary health conundrum.’
In a nutshell
- 85% of countries worldwide don’t consume enough omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for preventing conditions like preterm birth, depression, and heart disease.
- Climate change, ocean warming, and pollution are reducing the availability of omega-3s in marine food sources, threatening to worsen an already critical nutritional shortage.
- Modern diets contain about 20 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids, creating an unprecedented nutritional imbalance that may contribute to numerous health problems.
CLEVELAND — A perfect storm threatens the global supply of omega-3 fatty acids, and the consequences could be devastating for human health. New research reveals that 85% of countries already consume insufficient levels of these essential nutrients, while environmental changes are steadily diminishing what remains.
As oceans warm and pollution spreads, the very foundation of the omega-3 supply chain—from tiny algae to the fish on your plate—is under siege. According to Dr. Timothy Ciesielski from the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, there are multiple factors behind the crisis.
Why Omega-3s Matter for Your Health
Previous research links omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids to preventing early births, mental decline, mood disorders, heart disease, certain cancers, and inflammatory conditions. After years of mixed research results, recent scientific reviews have confirmed these health benefits.
It’s why fish oil supplements, high in omega-3 fatty acids, are one of the most popular supplements on health store shelves. But Ciesielski’s study, published in AJPM Focus, points to a serious problem for manufacturers and consumers alike.
“Rising ocean temperatures, overfishing, and pollution are further reducing our access to these lipids,” notes Dr. Timothy Ciesielski from Case Western Reserve University, who authored the study.
The worldwide deficiency creates a massive public health challenge that individual healthcare approaches can’t fix. According to Ciesielski, “Supplementation is not viable at scale because 85% of earth’s countries have insufficient mean intakes. This is not a healthcare problem; it is a public health issue and a planetary health conundrum.”
He suggests that with climate change accelerating and ocean health declining, the implications could extend beyond nutrition; a worsening crisis could affect pregnancy outcomes, child development, and chronic disease rates globally.
The Modern Diet Imbalance
Throughout human evolution, people consumed roughly equal amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Today’s typical Western diet contains about 20 times more omega-6 than omega-3, creating an unprecedented nutritional imbalance.
“We evolved in food environments where omega-6 and omega-3 PUFA were approximately equal in abundance,” Ciesielski points out. “Now our industrialized diets contain about 20 times more omega-6 PUFA than omega-3 PUFA.”
Countries currently getting enough omega-3s share one trait: substantial coastlines. This connection highlights how protecting marine environments is critical for maintaining supplies of these nutrients.
Environmental Threats to Our Omega-3 Supply
As oceans warm from climate change, marine algae—the foundation of omega-3 production—make less of these compounds through a natural adaptation process. This diminishes availability throughout the food chain.
Beyond warming waters, ocean acidification from carbon dioxide pollution threatens to disrupt entire food webs. Meanwhile, continued overfishing depletes existing stocks, and pollutants from industrial chemicals to microplastics contaminate remaining fish.
Previous studies on omega-3 benefits often showed inconsistent results because they failed to account for factors like different types of omega fatty acids, the body’s ability to convert certain forms, and the competitive relationship between omega-3 and omega-6.
Solutions for a Growing Crisis
This goes beyond taking more fish oil pills. The scope of the problem demands rethinking food systems, safeguarding oceans, and potentially cutting omega-6 intake to restore a more natural balance—what Ciesielski calls “achieving addition through subtraction.”
Ciesielski offers several potential fixes, including better management of fisheries, sustainable fish farming, and developing land-based sources of omega-3s, such as purslane, a nutritious plant that grows in many environments.
The evidence speaks clearly: omega-3 fatty acids matter for human health, most people don’t get enough, and environmental changes threaten to make things worse. This isn’t merely a health issue—it’s a planetary one.
Paper Summary
Methodology
Dr. Timothy Ciesielski’s paper combines findings from numerous meta-analyses on omega-3 fatty acids and their health effects. It examines country-level analyses of omega-3 intake across 184 countries, using national average lipid intake estimates to assess sufficiency. The research identifies apparent sufficiency thresholds for omega-3 intake related to specific health outcomes like preterm birth (>550 mg/day) and depression (>1000 mg/day), and compares these against actual country-level consumption data. The analysis specifically addresses factors often overlooked in earlier research, including non-linear dose responses, the body’s conversion of different omega-3 types, competition from omega-6 fatty acids, and contamination issues in food sources.
Results
The meta-analyses reviewed indicate that adequate omega-3 PUFA intake helps prevent multiple health problems, including preterm birth, cognitive decline, depression, heart disease, wheezing, premenstrual symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis, several cancers, fatty liver disease, and inflammation. Country-level analyses showed that 85% of countries worldwide have insufficient average intake of omega-3 PUFAs. The research identifies growing environmental threats to omega-3 availability, including ocean warming (which reduces omega-3 production in marine organisms through a process called homeoviscous adaptation), ocean acidification, overfishing, and contamination of seafood with toxins like PCBs, mercury, and PFAS chemicals. Countries with sufficient omega-3 intake all share one feature: extensive coastlines.
Limitations
The paper acknowledges that variability in individual studies on omega-3 benefits reflects unaddressed methodological factors. It notes that most studies fail to account for seven key factors affecting results, including proper identification of different fat types, the body’s conversion of plant-based omega-3s to more potent forms, interactions between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, nonlinear dose responses, differences between long-term and recent intake, contamination of omega-3 sources, and fat oxidation during storage or processing. Health outcomes beyond preterm birth and depression need further global-scale evaluation to fully understand the problem’s extent.
Funding and Disclosures
The paper explicitly states “none” under both funding and declaration of interest sections, indicating no external funding supported this research and the author declares no conflicts of interest.
Publication Information
The paper “Global Access to Uncontaminated Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Requires Attention” was written by Timothy H. Ciesielski, Sc.D., M.D., M.P.H. from the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Health Sciences. It was received October 24, 2024, revised March 21, 2025, and accepted March 25, 2025 for publication in AJPM Focus (American Journal of Preventive Medicine Focus). The paper appears as an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
