Mercola J. Historical rise of cancer and dietary linoleic acid: Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies. World J Clin Oncol 2025; 16(9): 110686 [PMID: 41024837 DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i9.110686]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Joseph Mercola, Researcher, Midwestern University, 555 31st Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States. drm@mercola.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Sep 24, 2025; 16(9): 110686 Published online Sep 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i9.110686
Historical rise of cancer and dietary linoleic acid: Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies
Joseph Mercola
Joseph Mercola, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
Author contributions: Mercola J was the sole author responsible for study conception and design, data acquisition and interpretation, manuscript preparation and revision, final approval of the version to be published, and agrees to be accountable for the integrity of the work in all respects.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author reports no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Joseph Mercola, Researcher, Midwestern University, 555 31st Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States. drm@mercola.com
Received: June 12, 2025 Revised: July 14, 2025 Accepted: August 20, 2025 Published online: September 24, 2025 Processing time: 103 Days and 11.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Industrial seed-oil boom has tripled linoleic acid (LA) intake since 1900, tracking the surge in cancer. This review synthesizes cutting-edge data showing how excess LA seeds oxidative lipid peroxidation, succinate-driven pseudohypoxia, mitochondrial dysfunction, hormonal-inflammatory amplification and gut dysbiosis that together create a “pro-cancer terrain”. It also challenges blanket ketogenic prescriptions, warning that carb exclusion can worsen LA-induced dysbiosis, and outlines a phased “terrain-restoration” plan: Slash dietary LA, reintroduce selective fibers, add odd-chain pentadecanoic acid and metabolic supports to revive mitophagy, microbiota and immune surveillance. The article spotlights urgent research gaps and testable clinical strategies.
