Vegetable Oil, Not Olive Oil, May Help Prevent Heart Disease

Linoleic acid, found in certain vegetable oils and grapeseed oil, but not in olive oil, can lower insulin resistance and inflammation and improve lean body mass, according to new research.

Many studies have examined the effects of unsaturated fat on the human body, but it is uncertain whether all unsaturated fats have the same effect.
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Therefore, researchers wanted to test whether 3 unsaturated fats—linoleic acid, oleic acid, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids—impact body composition, metabolism, and inflammation in the same way.

To conduct their study, researchers assessed 139 healthy men and women for body composition, insulin resistance, inflammatory markers, and fatty acid composition after an overnight fast.

After analyzing the data, researchers found that individuals with higher levels of linoleic acid had leaner body mass, with less abdominal fat; lower insulin resistance; and fewer markers of inflammation. However, researchers didn’t see a reduced risk in those with higher oleic acid or long-chain omega-3 levels.

“Linoleic acid, but not oleic acid or the sum of long chain omega 3 fatty acids, was associated with increased appendicular lean mass and decreased trunk adipose mass and insulin resistance,” researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Belury MA, Cole RM, Bailey BE, Ke JY, Andridge RR, Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Erythrocyte linoleic acid, but not oleic acid, is associated with improvements in body composition in men and women. Mol Nutr Food Res. Published online February 29, 2016. doi:10.1002/mnfr.201500744.