Omega-6 vegetable oils as a driver of coronary heart disease: the oxidized linoleic acid hypothesis

Summary

Open-access narrative review by DiNicolantonio and O'Keefe arguing that the marked increase in dietary linoleic acid (LA, the dominant omega-6 fatty acid in industrial seed oils) is a primary driver of coronary heart disease via the production of oxidized LDL particles enriched in oxidized linoleic acid metabolites (OXLAMs). The paper synthesizes evidence that LA intake has risen from roughly 1–2% of energy in the early 20th century to 8–10% today, that LA accumulates in adipose tissue with a half-life on the order of two years, and that oxidized LA species are inflammatory and atherogenic. The mechanism proposed: industrial vegetable oil consumption raises tissue LA, raises OXLAM production, and contributes to atheroma formation independent of cholesterol per se.