When you eat seed oils, they stick around in your body and their levels have gone way up since the 1950s — just like how much we’ve been eating them.

We analyzed the available evidence on whether dietary linoleic acid from seed oils leads to increased levels of linoleic acid in human fat tissue over time. What we’ve found so far is that six studies or assertions directly refute this idea, while none support it. This means the evidence we’ve reviewed leans away from the claim that eating more seed oils causes more linoleic acid to build up in body fat. Linoleic acid is an essential omega-6 fatty acid found in oils like soybean, sunflower, and corn oil. The idea that consuming more of it would lead to higher levels stored in fat tissue seems logical at first glance — but the studies we reviewed did not show this connection. Instead, they suggest other factors may be at play, such as how the body uses, breaks down, or redistributes this fatty acid, rather than simply storing it in proportion to intake. We did not find any data showing a clear link between higher seed oil consumption and rising linoleic acid levels in adipose tissue. The absence of supporting studies, combined with multiple refuting ones, means we cannot say that eating more of these oils leads to greater accumulation in fat. It also doesn’t mean the opposite is true — just that the evidence doesn’t back the claim as written. What this means for everyday choices: if you’re concerned about linoleic acid levels in your body, simply cutting back on seed oils may not be the key factor. Other aspects of your overall diet, metabolism, and activity level likely matter more — but we don’t yet have enough evidence to say how.