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Linoleic acid is an essential nutrient—we must eat it as a part of our diet. Did you mean poisonous at high dosages?

• adrian_b 4y ago
  "Poisonous" is not the right word, but at high daily intakes linoleic acid begins to have various detrimental effects, like preventing the synthesis of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids or competing with various other activities of the liver, which now has to convert the excess linoleic acid into other fatty acids. The cheapest vegetable oils have a very high proportion of linoleic acid, so when they are used for cooking it is very easy to ingest an excessive amount of linoleic acid. Among the oils with a good proportion for the linoleic acid are the olive oil and the so-called "high oleic sunflower oil" (not the traditional sunflower oil). The canola oil also has a good proportion, but I have no experience with using it. Among nuts and seeds there are some with a high content of linoleic acid, e.g. pine nuts or poppy seeds, but such nuts or seeds are unlikely to be ever eaten in a so great quantity as to cause problems, unlike the cooking oils. Many nuts, e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, cashews, peanuts, have a good proportion of linoleic acid.