Triglycerides are the chemical formation of animal and vegetable fats. In molecular form, three molecules of fatty acids combine with glycerol to form triglycerides. In the human body, these are carried through the blood plasma, and unused molecules are stored in the body as fat.
Virtually all naturally occurring fats contain triglycerides. However, while higher than normal levels of these lipoproteins are considered medically unsafe, a normal intake is encouraged. Both carbohydrates and proteins provide energy to the body. Triglycerides provide twice that.
Triglycerides are not only present in the body through the consumption of fats, but also through the consumption of carbohydrates. Most carbohydrates are naturally turned into triglycerides by the body. Therefore, a diet low in fat, but high in carbohydrates, may serve to increase triglyceride levels.
A low carbohydrate diet often helps to lower triglyceride levels, although this type of diet is not good for everyone. Many nutritionists encourage the consumption of both fats and carbohydrates in moderation. Healthy dietary practices tend to often focus on portion control and a balanced intake of protein and complex carbohydrates.
Though high levels of triglycerides are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, they are not usually a primary cause. Generally, the body must also have a high level of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and a lower than normal level of high density lipoproteins (HDL), to increase the risk of hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis, heart attack, or stroke. A chemical analysis of LDL and HDL levels provides a better indicator for one's risk of heart disease than a triglyceride count. However, blood tests screening for LDL and HDL also provide a triglyceride count.
While only suspect in heart disease, excess levels of triglycerides are directly linked to obesity and to pancreatitis. Pancreatitis causes severe stomach pain, which lasts for two to three days. Chronic pancreatitis may result in long-term pain, diarrhea, and nausea. Pain may worsen after large meals. The chronic form is difficult to treat, so lowering triglycerides makes good sense to avoid this condition.
The American Heart Association(AHA) has established the following guidelines for triglyceride levels:
Normal levels are less than 150 milligrams per deciliter.
Borderline high is 150-199mg/dl.
High is 200-499 mg/dl.
Very High is 500 or above mg/dl.
The guidelines for the levels of triglycerides are for adults that are over the age of 20, and those numbers are a reflection of blood tests done after fasting. If you take the measurements soon after consuming food, triglyceride levels are bound to be high.
The AHA also recommends a sensible diet, smoking cessation, and exercising daily for at least 30 minutes to reduce triglyceride levels.
High triglycerides (over 200 mg/dL) occur in about 10 percent of people. Very high levels (over 1,000 mg/dL) are rare. The condition appears to be more common in men than women. High triglycerides also appear to be more common in Caucasians than in African Americans.
Probably the most common cause of high triglycerides is inadequate fasting prior to a lipid test. Triglycerides in the blood increase following a meal; they can remain high for up to ten hours. If fasting does not occur, the person will have artificially high triglycerides. This is why healthcare providers do not want a person to eat food or drink coffee for at least 12 hours prior to triglyceride and cholesterol testing.
Other factors that have been shown to be causes of high triglycerides include:
Obesity
Physical inactivity
Excessive alcohol use
High-carbohydrate diet
Birth control pills (don't use it)
Other drugs (including diuretics and steroids)
Genetic disorders (such as familial hypertriglyceridemia)
Certain diseases, including:
Diabetes
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Hypothyroidism
Kidney disease
Liver disease
Acromegaly
Lipodystrophies
Cushing's syndrome
Acute hepatitis.
Diseases that deplete fat stores such as malnutrition can cause very low triglyceride levels. Symptoms of malnutrition might include lethargy, feeling cold, dry, thin, inelastic skin, brittle, sparse, lifeless hair, muscle wasting, diarrhea and weight loss. A person with malnutrition may also develop frequent infections since the immune system doesn't function well enough to fight them off.
Hyperthyroidism can cause metabolism to speed up, resulting in weight loss and possibly also causing low triglyceride levels. Symptoms of hyperthyroidism include rapid heartbeat, weight loss, anxiety, sweating, increased appetite, fatigue, tremor, irritability or difficulty sleeping. Older adults may not develop all the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, especially if they take beta blocker medications, which can mask the symptoms.
A number of diseases can cause malabsorption, the inability of the body to absorb nutrients through the intestine. Diseases such as cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, certain types of cancer, weight-loss bypass surgery and familial diseases such as hypobetalipoproteinemia can cause malabsorption of fats and low triglyceride levels. Symptoms vary depending on the disorder but generally include failure to thrive syndrome in infants, poor growth, weight loss and muscle wasting. Gastrointestinal manifestations include bloating, gas, diarrhea, bulky, greasy stools that float and abdominal cramping.
High triglycerides by themselves do not cause symptoms. If your high triglycerides are caused by a genetic condition, you may have visible fatty deposits under the skin called xanthomas.
In rare cases, people who have very high triglyceride levels may develop inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), which can cause sudden, severe abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and fever.
If you have high triglycerides, you may also have high cholesterol. In many cases, people don't know that they have high triglycerides until they have a blood test called a lipoprotein analysis to check their cholesterol levels.
If your triglyceride levels are high, your doctor will also check for and treat other associated conditions that may be linked to high triglycerides. These conditions include diabetes, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, and metabolic syndrome.
Triglyceride levels rise and fall depending on how much fat the body stores. Doctors are generally more concerned about high levels of triglyceride, described as a blood level of 150 mg/dL or higher, than they are about low triglyceride levels. Michael Miller, M.D. of the University of Maryland reports that triglyceride levels above 100 mg/dL may increase the risk of heart disease by 50 percent. But low triglycerides may indicate the presence of disease.
Like high triglyceride levels, low triglyceride levels in and of themselves cause no specific symptoms. You can't tell you have low or high triglycerides or cholesterol based upon the way you feel. Low triglyceride levels are diagnosed by having blood drawn after fasting for 12 hours.
Lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and reducing (or stopping) alcohol consumption, are common ways to decrease triglycerides. If high triglyceride levels are the result of another condition that is not being treated, such as diabetes, treatment may focus on getting such health issues under control. Medications used for lowering triglycerides include nicotinic acid, statins, and fibrates.
If the previous steps do not cause triglycerides to decrease a normal level, your healthcare provider may recommend lifestyle changes. These include:
Changing your diet
Losing weight
Exercising
Reducing or stopping the use of alcohol.
Changing Your Diet
Generally, the first thing a person with high triglycerides should do is change his or her diet. An eating plan for lowering high triglycerides may include:
Limiting the amount of saturated fat to 7 to 10 percent of total calories
Limiting the total amount of fat to under 30 percent of total calories
Limiting the amount of cholesterol
Eating only enough calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight
Adding triglyceride-lowering food or supplements, which include fish and fish oil.
Weight Loss
The more weight people gain, the more their triglycerides tend to rise. Normally, in such cases, a doctor will recommend that an overweight person lose weight. In fact, just a little weight loss can significantly lower your triglyceride level; in many cases it will even lower them back to a normal level.
Weight management is especially important for those people with metabolic syndrome. People with metabolic syndrome have a specific group of risk factors that includes:
High triglyceride levels
Low HDL levels
Being overweight and having a large waist measurement (more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women).
Exercise
A moderate exercise program, such as taking a brisk walk 30 to 40 minutes a day on most, if not all, days, will help lower your triglycerides and keep your heart and blood vessels in shape. A program of regular exercise is also important in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
Be sure to check with your healthcare provider before starting any type of exercise program.
Reducing or Stopping the Use of Alcohol
Alcohol increases triglycerides in the blood. For moderately high triglycerides, reducing alcohol consumption may be recommended. To lower levels in people with very high triglycerides, alcohol should be avoided.
Medications That Can Lower Triglycerides
For some people, diet, weight control, and exercise are not enough to lower triglycerides. If lifestyle changes alone are not enough, your doctor can prescribe medications. These are some of the same medicines used to lower cholesterol. They include:
Nicotinic acid
Fibrates
Statins
Omega-3 fatty acids.
Nicotinic Acid
Nicotinic acid (niacin) lowers triglycerides along with lowering LDL cholesterol and raising HDL cholesterol. Although this medication is available over-the-counter, it should only be used under a doctor's supervision.
Fibrates
Fibrates are used mainly to treat high triglycerides and low HDL levels. Examples of fibrate medication used to lower triglycerides include gemfibrozil (Lopid) and fenofibrate (Tricor, Triglide, Antara, Lofibra, LipofenTM).
Statins
Statins decrease triglycerides in people with moderately high levels. They have a modest effect on higher triglyceride levels. Statins are not recommended unless the person also has high LDL levels.
Examples of statins include:
Atorvastatin (Lipitor) or combination medications that contain atorvastatin (Caduet)
Fluvastatin (Lescol, Lescol XL)
Pitavastatin (Livalo)
Lovastatin (Altoprev, Mevacor) or combination medications that contain lovastatin (Advicor)
Pravastatin (Pravachol)
Rosuvastatin (Crestor)
Simvastatin (Zocor) or combination medications that contain simvastatin (Juvisync, Simcor, Vytorin)
Red Yeast Rice
Studies have shown that red yeast rice can significantly lower levels of total cholesterol and specifically LDL, or "bad" cholesterol. One showed that taking 2.4 grams per day of red yeast rice reduced LDL levels by 22% and total cholesterol by 16% in 12 weeks. Another study showed that taking 1.2 grams per day lowered LDL levels by 26% in just eight weeks.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are a great option for people who like to use more natural treatments. While eating more omega-3 fatty acids (such as by eating more fish) would be ideal, many people cannot (or do not want to) eat the foods that contain these fatty acids. In such situations, an omega-3 fatty acid supplement may be appropriate. These can include nonprescription supplements (usually in the form of fish oil capsules) or a prescription product (Lovaza).
A triglyceride-lowering diet is similar to a cholesterol-lowering diet. It includes adding certain fish (such as salmon and tuna) and fish oil (which contains omega-3 fatty acids) to the diet, while limiting the amount of saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol. The use of alcohol should be limited or eliminated while on this diet.
Diet for Lowering Triglycerides
If you wish to know how to
lower triglycerides quickly, then following a triglycerides diet
helps in bringing the high triglyceride level to normal. The foods to
lower triglycerides are those that have a high fiber content.
Consumption of refined carbohydrate foods that are high on the
glycemic index also leads to an increase in the level of
triglycerides. If you wish to lower triglycerides, you must switch to
a low glycemic diet.
Baked goods such as pies, cookies,
pastries, cakes and biscuits, deep-fried foods, fatty meat and
margarine are some of the sources of trans fat, whereas, beef, pork,
lamb, butter, cheese and ice cream are sources of saturated fat.
These foods must be avoided. You can have non-fat or low-fat dairy
products such as skimmed milk, low-fat cheese and yogurts.
The foods rich in sugar must be completely avoided. Cut down on your intake of alcohol, sweetened beverages and desserts. Since obesity makes one more vulnerable to developing high triglycerides levels, you must refrain from overeating. Including foods rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids will also prove beneficial in bringing down the level of triglycerides. If you are still not sure about the diet to lower triglycerides, go through this list of foods to lower triglycerides.
Mackerel
Sardines
Tuna
Salmon
Flaxseed
Fish oil
Virgin olive oil
Egg whites
Walnuts
Almonds
Lean meat
Green leafy vegetables
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Beans and lentils
Brown rice
Red yeast rice
Rice bran
Whole grains
Fresh fruits
Oats
If you have been diagnosed with hypertriglyceridemia, you can use this information on foods to lower triglycerides naturally to bring the triglycerides levels within normal range.