Research

Mixed

The cardiovascular risk associated with high linoleic acid intake is significantly modified by oxidative stress factors, specifically smoking and alcohol consumption.

If you smoke or drink heavily, consuming high amounts of linoleic acid (from safflower oil) may be particularly dangerous for your heart. The risk is less clear if you do not smoke or drink. This suggests that lifestyle factors interact with fat intake.

ModerateConditionalMEDIUM confidence
The positive association between longitudinal increases in n-6 LA and unspecified PUFAs and cardiovascular mortality was significant among moderate or heavy drinkers and smokers, but not among non-drinkers and non-smokers.
Christopher E. Ramsden et al. · BMJ · 2013

Why this rating

Observational analysis within an RCT; likelihood ratio test significant but interaction p-values vary.

Source

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

Christopher E. Ramsden et al. · BMJ · 2013

DOI 10.1136/bmj.e8707

Meta-analysis · 7 studiesCited 515×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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