In a recent podcast interview, zoologist and biochemist Dr. Anthony Hulbert was asked a simple question: can what we eat change how much pain we feel?
His answer took one word: “Yes.”
Hulbert, emeritus professor at the University of Wollongong and author of Omega Balance, argues that the fats in modern diets may quietly turn up the volume on pain.
Even stranger, he says a popular fix often fails for a surprising reason.
Stick around for the headache trial he calls his favorite, plus exactly what he puts on his own plate.
Jump to:
Omega Balance: The Number Behind the Pain Theory
Hulbert prefers percentages over ratios. His measure is simply the share of your essential fats that comes from omega-3, with omega-6 making up the rest.
His estimates of where populations have stood over time:
- Paleolithic era and Inuit populations: roughly 50 percent omega-3
- Early 1900s United States: about 40 percent
- 1960s: under 20 percent
- Today: under 10 percent on average
For a healthy diet, he suggests above 20 percent, ideally 30 to 40 percent.
Why Cell Membranes Matter for Pain
Hulbert came to nutrition from the study of cell membranes, which shapes his whole view of fat.
Fat’s seen as an energy store, whereas in fact it’s initially creating that fence around cells.
Bodies build membranes from dietary fats, so what you eat eventually becomes what your cells are made of.
Omega-3 and omega-6 compete to get into those membranes. Hulbert’s rat experiments, using 12 diets that differed only in fat composition, suggested that the balance between the two, rather than total omega-6 intake, determined levels of arachidonic acid.
Arachidonic acid is raw material for eicosanoids, chemical messengers tied to inflammation and pain. More arachidonic acid, more pain signaling is his basic argument.
The Aspirin Connection
Ancient Egyptians and Sumerians chewed willow bark for fever and pain. Its salicylates are close relatives of aspirin, which blocks oxygen from being added to omega-6 fats when the body makes pain messengers.
Diet, in Hulbert’s view, works further upstream on the same pathway.
The Studies Hulbert Highlights
Osteoarthritis and Pressure Thresholds
In a study he calls UPLOAD, people with osteoarthritis were split into four groups based on blood fatty acids. Those with low omega-3 balance reported more clinical pain.
Researchers also applied rising pressure and asked when it became painful. Low-balance participants hit that point sooner, meaning lower pain thresholds.
The Chronic Daily Headache Trial
Hulbert’s favorite. Participants began with an omega balance near 9 percent, then changed their whole diet.
- Group one: cut omega-6 from about 7 percent of energy to 2.5 percent, lifting balance to roughly 23 percent
- Group two: cut omega-6 the same way and raised omega-3 to about 2.5 percent, reaching roughly 50 percent
Both groups saw fewer headaches, lower intensity and less medication use over the 12-week trial.
Period Pain, Aging and Jaw Pain
Hulbert described several other findings:
- Endometriosis: an Indian study gave under one gram of omega-3 five days weekly for 12 weeks, and participants reported far less pain than controls
- Older adults: in about 950 elderly Spanish participants, oily fish eaters reported less pain than white fish eaters
- Jaw pain study: higher omega-6 blood levels tracked with lower pain thresholds, while omega-3 tracked with higher ones
A Fair Caveat
Evidence here is more preliminary than the enthusiasm suggests. Several studies link blood fat levels to pain, and links alone cannot prove cause.
Hulbert himself admits pain is hard to measure, noting “there’s no units of pain.” He also says he is not a pain specialist and noticed no mood or pain changes in his own self-experiment.
Why Fish Oil Capsules Often Disappoint
Many trials declare omega-3 useless after giving participants a couple of capsules. Hulbert says that barely dents a diet swimming in omega-6.
If you change the omega balance of the whole diet, you almost always have effects.
The podcast host added a related point: where background omega-6 intake is low, around 400 mg of omega-3 can raise omega-3 levels in membranes, while 3 to 4 grams may be needed on a typical Western diet.
It’s not a magical molecule. It’s the balance in the whole diet.
Patience Required
Eating salmon will not erase a headache by dinner. Hulbert is blunt about it.
It’s not an immediate fix.
Whole-body membrane turnover can take weeks to months. His own cheek-cell experiment, alternating two-week high omega-6 and high omega-3 diets, showed measurable shifts in far less time.
What Hulbert Actually Eats
His guiding idea: seeds are omega-6 heavy, while leaves are omega-3 rich. Modern farming and processed food have tilted everything toward seeds.
- Green leafy material: a daily staple
- Butter for cooking: he has dropped vegetable oils, though he stresses not all of them share the same makeup
- No deep-fried foods: these are typically cooked in vegetable oils
- Seafood: prawns and other shellfish, plus oily fish like salmon
- Tinned fish: packed in water or tomato sauce, never oil, since that oil is usually vegetable oil
- Grass-fed meat and dairy: lamb, plus dairy from pasture-fed animals, with an omega balance near 30 percent
- Little chicken or pork: grain-fed animals tend to be low in omega-3
- Whole foods: he buys produce and makes his own meals
I try and minimize the seeds. It’s very hard. And maximize the leaves.
Even farmed salmon deserves scrutiny, Hulbert says, because some fish feeds contain poultry fat.
A Bigger Hypothesis
Hulbert speculates that the opioid crisis may be partly influenced by modern diets high in omega-6 and low in omega-3. This is his hypothesis rather than a proven link.
Still, his message is practical and low-risk: shift your whole plate toward leaves, seafood and pasture-raised foods, and give it time.
