Phooi Tee VoonXiou Shuang YongLai Yee PhangTong Kok Wai NgVerna Kar Mun Lee2025-01-072025-01-072020-12-0610.1002/ejlt.202000204https://dspace-cris.utar.edu.my/handle/123456789/10662The effects of high‐fat diets with the recommended dietary linoleic acid (LA) intake levels on health outcomes have not been studied extensively. This study investigated the effects of high‐fat diets containing different weight ratios of coconut and corn oil with LA levels of <1.00% of energy (very low LA), 2.80% of energy (low LA), 5.80% of energy (moderate LA), and 9.70% of energy (high LA) on fat deposition and selected metabolic biomarkers of male Sprague‐Dawley rats. Their initial and terminal body weights are recorded. Blood, adipose tissue, and liver samples are obtained for analysis after an 8‐week feeding intervention. Compared with the very low‐LA diet, the high‐LA diet resulted in higher body weight gain and epididymal fat deposition. No significant differences are observed in liver‐to‐body weight ratio, blood glucose, visfatin, and leptin levels between the test diets. Serum tumor necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α), insulin, and C‐peptide levels do not significantly increase with the increase in dietary LA levels. High‐LA diet results in higher LA levels in the liver and adipose tissue. It is concluded that a high‐fat diet containing high LA levels induced body weight gain and epididymal fat deposition in rats but has no effect on selected metabolic biomarkers.Practical applications: Linoleic acid (LA) (C18:2) plays an important role as one of the nutritional elements to meet the daily essential fatty acid requirements. However, a full understanding is perplexed by the various ways that LA can be included in the diet when there is a recommendation to substitute saturated fatty acid (SFA), trans‐ or n‐3 fatty acids intake. The data provide additional findings on the effects of excessive dietary intake of LA (C18:2) on fat deposition when different levels of SFAs are replaced.journal-article