HUFA Balance from Ethnic Food Habits
HUFA Balance comes from voluntary food choices that people make. Different ethnic foods have different balance of omega-6 and omega-3 EFA nutrients. They give a different HUFA balance in tissues ranging from 20% to 75% n-6 in HUFA for apparently healthy people. However, different balance is linked to different risk for developing unwanted health conditions. Health risk assessment of HUFA is measured in a simple finger-tip blood-spot test.
“Western” and “Mediterranean” diets give a higher balance of omega-6 in HUFA than modern or traditional Japanese diets. The similar omega-3 and omega-6 compete with each other for storage in tissue membranes. The omega-6 arachidonate (AA) is the dominant HUFA in tissues of Americans (right side of the Figure; click it for more details). AA proportions are lowered by eating foods with positive omega balance scores that cause higher proportions of omega-3 DHA, DPA and EPA in tissue HUFA. 
The percent of omega-6 may range from 25% to 85% of HUFA. It is a useful health risk assessment measurement that relates to many health disorders and causes of death.
revised September, 2017