Objective To investigate the relationships between erythrocyte membrane n‐6:n‐3 PUFAs ratio and blood lipids and high sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP).Methods The observational study consisted of a population‐based cross‐sectional study of 456 Chinese and a subsequent 1‐year follow‐up study of 171 subjects with the fasting plasma total cholesterol of 5.13‐8.00 mmol/L.Results In the cross‐sectional analysis,plasma low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐c) had a significant and negative association with the erythrocyte membrane n‐6:n‐3 PUFAs ratio (P for trend=0.019) after adjusting for sex,age and total PUFA percentage.In the follow‐up study,171 subjects were categorized into quartiles by the changes of n‐6:n‐3 ratio in erythrocyte membrane (△=month 12‐month 0).In the top quartile whose ratios of n‐6:n‐3 increased by an average of 1.25 during the follow‐up,the LDL‐c‐lowering extent was 3.3 times of that in the lowest quartile whose ratios of n‐6:n‐3 decreased by an average of 1.13 (‐1.07 mmol/L v.s.‐0.32 mmol/L).The hsCRP decreased by 0.11 mg/dL in the lowest quartile while increasing by 0.10 mg/dL in the top quartile (P for difference=0.052).Conclusion Our results suggested that the balance between n‐6 and n‐3 fatty acids may optimize the cardiovascular benefits from dietary PUFAs. Objective To investigate the relationships between erythrocyte membrane n-6: n-3 PUFAs ratio and blood lipids and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Methods The observational study consisted of a population-based cross-sectional study of 456 Chinese and a subsequent 1-year follow-up study of 171 subjects with the fasting plasma total cholesterol of 5.13-8.00 mmol / L. Results In the cross-sectional analysis, plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) had a significant and negative association with the erythrocyte membrane n-6: n-3 PUFAs ratio (P for trend = 0.019) after adjusting for sex, age and total PUFA percentage.In the follow-up study, 171 subjects were categorized into quartiles by the changes of n-6: n-3 ratio in erythrocyte membrane (Δ = month 12-month 0) .In the top quartile whose ratios of n-6: n-3 increased by an average of 1.25 during the follow-up, the LDL- c-lowering extent was 3.3 times of that in the lowest quartile whos e ratios of n-6 decreased by an average of 1.13 (-1.07 mmol / L vs-0.32 mmol / L). The hsCRP decreased by 0.11 mg / dL in the lowest quartile while increasing by 0.10 mg / dL in the top quartile (P for difference = 0.052) .Conclusion Our results suggested that the balance between n-6 and n-3 fatty acids may optimize the cardiovascular benefits from dietary PUFAs.