Does soybean oil make you inflamed?
Foods Fortified with Soybean or Palm Oil Show No Effect on Inflammation or Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein in Adults with Overweight or Obesity: a Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Arachidonic acid decreased by 5.3% after consuming linoleic acid-rich soybean oil.
The dominant theory says LA converts to AA, which promotes inflammation. This study found the opposite: more LA led to less AA, suggesting metabolic pathways are more regulated than assumed.
Practical Takeaways
You can safely include soybean oil in your diet without fearing inflammation—use it in cooking or snacks.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Arachidonic acid decreased by 5.3% after consuming linoleic acid-rich soybean oil.
The dominant theory says LA converts to AA, which promotes inflammation. This study found the opposite: more LA led to less AA, suggesting metabolic pathways are more regulated than assumed.
Practical Takeaways
You can safely include soybean oil in your diet without fearing inflammation—use it in cooking or snacks.
Publication
Journal
Current Developments in Nutrition
Year
2026
Authors
Cheng-Tse Yang, R. Cole, Eric Colombo, A. Angelotti, Andy Ni, Martha A. Belury
Related Content
Claims (6)
Eating snacks with 30g of soybean oil every day for a month doesn’t make your body more inflamed or damage your blood fats, even though some people say it does.
After eating soybean oil daily for a month, the level of a fatty acid called arachidonic acid went down in red blood cells — which is surprising because people thought it would go up.
People who ate soybean oil daily for a month tended to have slightly lower levels of a key inflammation signal called IL-6, though the result wasn’t strong enough to be certain.
Incorporation of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids from seed oils into cell membranes increases lipid peroxidation, triggering chronic low-grade systemic inflammation.
Eating a lot of soybean oil for a month lowered levels of DHA — a healthy omega-3 fat — in red blood cells, possibly because the two types of fats compete to get into cell membranes.