Talk:Linoleic acid

2019 pooled analysis
An additional source that may be useful for the article Psychologist Guy (talk) 21:00, 2 July 2022 (UTC)


 * This review found reduced risk of colorectal cancer risk with increased linoleic acid intake, but the evidence quality is not high, so not worth including. Psychologist Guy (talk) 01:07, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * There was another recent study from the University of California that found an increased risk of ulcerative colitis from increased linoleic acid intake. Jarble (talk) 17:17, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Unreliable study done on mice, it fails MEDRS as it is a primary source, also see WP:MEDANIMAL. This is not clinical evidence and it is not relevant to humans. Psychologist Guy (talk) 17:25, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

Utility of also having EPA in the diet when consuming LA
I'm not an expert in editing Wikipedia articles so am reluctant to try to make this mod myself, but would like to point out a loose end to be tied up in the "Health Effects" section. It is clear when looking at the metabolic fate of LA that it can potentially become Arachidonic Acid (AA), a substance with many pro-inflammatory metabolites. This fact has led to a great deal of controversy about the pro-inflammatory vs. anti-inflammatory health effects of LA (and by extension, GLA) consumption. The controversy over such effects can be explained and mitigated by noting that these pro-inflammatory metabolic pathways are inhibited by the presence of adequate amounts of dietary EPA. Leaving this important detail out of the Health Effects discussion and thereby suggesting that LA consumption is inherently beneficial is a disservice to readers. Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316622143579. Slowgenius (talk) 16:12, 2 October 2023 (UTC)


 * That is misinformation that is usually promoted by low-carbohydrate diet cranks and the carnivore diet crowd. The body converts very little linolenic acid into arachidonic acid . Your source from 2000 is a primary source so is not suitable to be making biomedical claims on Wikipedia. In reality dietary linoleic acid does not have a significant effect on changing levels of arachidonic acid in plasma/serum (we have a systematic review on this . Psychologist Guy (talk) 17:32, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

Misinformation about linoleic acid
There is a lot of misinformation online from low-carb social media influencers that linoleic acid in vegetable oils is toxic and causes all kinds of disease, in reality we have consistent reliable evidence that linoleic acid intake is associated with decreased risk of CVD. There is no evidence it is harmful. There is a good consumer report here,. It might be worth adding the consumer report to the Wikipedia article. Psychologist Guy (talk) 17:29, 23 November 2023 (UTC)


 * It's not clear that this is misinformation; it's from the NIH and peer reviewed sources. Apparently the original research on the benefits of linoleic acid were misreported / fraudulent.  Reanalysis of the actual data suggest that "replacement of saturated fat with vegetable oil rich in linoleic acid significantly increased the risks of death from coronary heart disease and all causes, despite lowering serum cholesterol."
 * Use of dietary linoleic acid for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and death: evaluation of recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study and updated meta-analysis
 * Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73) 2605:59C8:1:8C10:0:0:0:9A7 (talk) 17:39, 10 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Those sources fail WP:MEDRS, they are not good quality. We need high-quality systematic reviews on this topic. What you are claiming is long debunked misinformation. We since have over 50 years of research that has shown the exact opposite. Those two papers you cite are the only ones that the carnivore/low carb community cite. There is no reason to be citing data from the 1960s. Your first link is the Sydney Diet Heart Study. This was a trial done back in 1966. If you actually read through the paper the intervention group were given margarine. The margarine that they selected was actually a transfat which we since know are atherogenic. In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned partially hydrogenated oils from food products such as margarines.
 * Citing a flawed study from 1966 is not the way evidence-based medicine works. If you look at the recent systematic reviews all of them have found that linoleic acid reduces CVD and cancer risk, , , . That is decades of research and outcome data. None have found that linoleic acid increases CVD risk. One of the best reviews on this looked at in vivo circulating and tissue levels of linoleic acid (LA) found that LA decreased risk of major cardiovascular events. In conclusion apart from some flawed studies from the 1960s or studies done on rats which are also flawed there is no evidence linoleic acid increases risk of chronic disease according to the medical literature. Psychologist Guy (talk) 19:37, 15 December 2023 (UTC)