So what are triglycerides and does it matter if you have high triglyceride levels?
Beyond keeping track of your blood pressure and cholesterol, there’s another number to you need to know – triglycerides.
These fatty particles in your blood are very important to your heart health, but they don’t get all the attention cholesterol does.
Yet about one third of American adults have triglyceride levels that are considered either borderline or too high, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control that’s just been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
If you’ve had your cholesterol tested, you were probably told that triglycerides at levels of 150 – 199 milligrams per deciliter are borderline high; over 200 milligrams per deciliter are too high.
Note: Cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per deciliter (dL) of blood in the U.S. and some other countries, while Canada and most of Europe measures cholesterol in millimoles per liter of blood.
Very high triglyceride levels can cause inflammation of the pancreas.
Men are more likely than women, and Caucasians at greater risk than African Americans or Mexican Americans to have high triglycerides.
If you have other risk factors for heart disease you need to take your risks seriously and do something about them.
This is especially true if your waist measurement is over 40 inches (101.6 centimeters) if you’re a man, more than 35 inches (88.9 centimeters) if you’re a woman – this body shape makes you more likely to develop heart disease.
If you’re too heavy, too inactive, drink too much or eating lots of saturated fat you likely have higher triglyceride levels. It seems that the body stores extra calories as triglycerides and keeps them stored in your fat cells.
Hormones then release the triglycerides to give you energy between meals. Of course if you’re eating more calories than you burn, like so many of us do, you’ll probably have high triglycerides (known technically as hypertriglyceridemia).
Cholesterol testing involves a simple blood test, known as a lipid panel, or lipid profile to check your cholesterol levels – the total number, as well as LDL and HDL cholesterol and these often sadly overlooked triglyceride levels.
The best way to fight back against high triglycerides is to lose the extra weight – which only comes from eating right and being more active.
Swapping healthy fats for unhealthy ones, especially if your triglycerides are between 155 and 500 milligrams per deciliter is a smart move.
You’ll also want to eat more soluble fiber found in foods like oatmeal, beans, fruits and veggies.
Only when lifestyle changes aren’t enough, prescription medications like statins, fibrates, niacin and fish oil that may also be helpful – discuss these options with your doctor.
Continues below…
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A Third Of Americans Have High Triglycerides continued…
You should know that high cholesterol has no symptoms, but genetics (close family members with high cholesterol or heart disease) might make you more prone to having it, even if you do everything right when it comes to diet and exercise.
If this is you, you want to get a baseline cholesterol test by age 20 (or as early as you can), and follow-ups every five years afterward.
Catching the problem early gives you the best chance to treat conditions right off the bat and retain your health.
Dr. Barge Nordestgaard of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, who’s done research linking high triglycerides to cardiovascular disease but wasn’t involved in the CDC studies, believes that high triglyceride levels are as dangerous as high cholesterol to your heart health.
If your number is higher than it should be, now is the time to make the changes to bring high triglyceride levels down.
