Research
Hormonal
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation does not significantly influence blood lipid markers (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triacylglycerides) or blood pressure in humans, although it may increase C-reactive protein (CRP) without necessarily increasing cardiovascular disease risk.
Do not take CLA for the purpose of improving blood pressure or cholesterol levels. Clinical evidence shows it does not improve these cardiovascular risk markers in humans. Its primary utility remains modest body fat reduction.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
The majority of CLA clinical studies found that CLA did not influence blood lipid markers for cardiovascular diseases, such as total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and/or triacylglyceride (TG)... a recent meta-analysis concluded that CLA had no positive effects on blood pressure in humans
Why this rating
Based on the majority of clinical studies and a recent meta-analysis cited.
Source
Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Potential Health Benefits as a Functional Food Ingredient
Jun Ho Kim et al. · Annual Review of Food Science and Technology · 2016
DOI 10.1146/annurev-food-041715-033028
narrative_reviewCited 237×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Supplementation with a 50:50 mixture of cis-9,trans-11 and trans-10,cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) at doses of 3.2–3.4 g/day for at least 6 months induces a modest but significant reduction in body fat mass and body weight in humans.Good
- The trans-10,cis-12 isomer of CLA is responsible for the modulation of body composition (reduction in body fat), whereas the cis-9,trans-11 isomer has no effect on body fat reduction.Good
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