Eating too much linoleic acid might speed up heart disease because when it gets into your blood, it can turn into harmful chemicals that damage blood vessels and cause inflammation.

When cholesterol particles get damaged by free radicals, they turn into a toxic form that sticks to artery walls, tricks immune cells into eating them until they burst, and causes swelling and inflammation that worsens plaque.

Tiny, dense cholesterol particles stick around longer in the blood and slip more easily into artery walls, where they get damaged and trigger inflammation that leads to clogged arteries.