Limited evidence for benefits of omega-6 fats for prevention of cardiovascular disease

There was low-quality evidence that increasing omega‐6 fats reduced the risk of myocardial infarction (number needed to treat to benefit = 53). Increasing omega‐6 fats made little or no difference to all‐cause mortality or CVD events (low‐quality evidence), and the effects on CVD mortality, coronary heart disease, stroke and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events were uncertain (very-low‐quality evidence). Increasing omega‐6 fats reduced blood cholesterol (high‐quality evidence), probably had little or no effect on body weight adjusted for height (moderate‐quality evidence), and made little or no difference to triglycerides, high‐density lipoprotein and low‐density lipoprotein (low‐quality evidence). Although benefits of omega‐6 fats remain to be proven, increasing omega‐6 fats may be of benefit in people at high risk of MI.