Omega-3 Conversion

Your result, the one DNA position behind it, and what the research says.

8/10 confidence.

About Omega-3 Conversion

Plant sources like flaxseed and walnuts provide a short-chain omega-3 called ALA, which the body has to convert into the longer forms, EPA and DHA, before it can use them for cell membranes and brain tissue. Two desaturase enzymes do that work, and their genes sit head to head sharing the same stretch of regulatory DNA: FADS2 performs the slow, rate-limiting first step, and FADS1 the one after it. This position tags that whole cluster, which is why it is one of the best-replicated diet-related signals in the genome. Oily fish and algae supply EPA and DHA ready-made and skip the conversion entirely.

Good to know: Plant omega-3 must be converted before the body can use it. Two desaturases share this locus; the variant tags the pair rather than one of them. Fish and algae supply the long-chain forms directly, skipping the step.

Fun fact: Conversion of plant omega-3 into DHA is inefficient in everyone; this variant shifts an already narrow bottleneck.

Discovery: The FADS cluster was linked to blood fatty acid levels in large population studies from 2008 onward.

The Variant

The single variant behind this trait

Gene: FADS1

Variant (rsID): rs174550

Location: Chr 11:61,804,006

dbSNP rs174550

The studies

FADS1 and FADS2 Gene Polymorphisms Affect Omega-3 and Omega-6 Erythrocyte Fatty Acid Composition and Influence the Association Between Dietary Fatty Acid Intake and Lipid Profile in Brazilian Adults (Batista LD et al., Metabolites, 2025)

Other lifestyle traits

Vitamin B12 Transport: A change in transcobalamin, the protein that carries vitamin B12 into your cells, affecting how much of your B12 is in the usable form.

Folate Processing: A variant in the control region of the enzyme that converts synthetic folic acid into the active folate your cells use.

Vitamin B6 Levels: A variant that sets how quickly your body clears vitamin B6 from the blood, and so how much of it circulates at any given intake.

Back to All Traits

Content updated September 2026.

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