High Triglycerides With Normal Cholesterol

What Is Considered Low Triglycerides

There isnt an official cutoff for low triglycerides. Most labs will consider any value below 150 mg/dL normal and values below 90 mg/dL as optimal.

If you are healthy and your values are lower than normal, you probably have nothing to worry about on the contrary.

But based on the studies above, in certain conditions, levels that are 50-70% lower than the average healthy persons might signal a more serious course of disease or higher levels of inflammation .

Putting Together A Low Cholesterol Diet

When it comes to investing money, experts recommend creating a portfolio of diverse investments instead of putting all your eggs in one basket. The same holds true for eating your way to lower cholesterol. Adding several foods to lower cholesterol in different ways should work better than focusing on one or two.

A largely vegetariandietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods substantially lowers LDL, triglycerides, and blood pressure. The key dietary components are plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains instead of highly refined ones, and protein mostly from plants. Add margarine enriched with plant sterols oats, barley, psyllium, okra, and eggplant, all rich in soluble fiber soy protein and whole almonds.

Of course, shifting to a cholesterol-lowering diet takes more attention than popping a daily statin. It means expanding the variety of foods you usually put in your shopping cart and getting used to new textures and flavors. But its a natural way to lower cholesterol, and it avoids the risk of muscle problems and other side effects that plague some people who take statins.

Just as important, a diet that is heavy on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts is good for the body in ways beyond lowering cholesterol. It keeps blood pressure in check. It helps arteries stay flexible and responsive. Its good for bones and digestive health, for vision and mental health.

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What Types Of Cholesterol Are There

There are two different types of cholesterol including:

• “Bad Cholesterol” which carry cholesterol particles throughout your body. LDL cholesterol is bad because it builds up in the walls of your arteries, making them hard and narrow which can increase the risk of a heart attack.
• “Good Cholesterol” which picks up excess cholesterol and takes it back to the liver. Having high HDL is linked to lower risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

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What Are Risk Factors For High Triglycerides

Factors that may raise triglyceride levels include:

• Excessive alcohol use.

• American Academy of Family Physicians. High Cholesterol. Accessed 11/182/2021.
• American Heart Association. Cholesterol. Accessed 11/18/2021.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Getting Your Cholesterol Checked. Accessed 11/18/2021.
• Hormone Health Network. Triglycerides. Accessed 11/18/2021.
• MedlinePlus. Triglycerides Test. Accessed 11/18/2021.
• Merck Manual Consumer Version. Overview of Cholesterol and Lipid Fats. Accessed 11/18/2021.
• National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. High Blood Triglycerides. Accessed 11/18/2021.

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How Quickly Can I Lower My Cholesterol

Your cholesterol levels may lower as quickly as a few weeks to a few months, depending on your treatment plan.

If your levels are very high, your healthcare provider may recommend taking medications at the start of your treatment plan. This may help lower your cholesterol levels more quickly. The sooner you can lower your bad cholesterol levels, the sooner you can lower your risk for plaques to form.

You can also lower your cholesterol through lifestyle and diet changes alone, but it may take three to six months to see results. Talk with your healthcare provider to figure out the best treatment plan for you.

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Why It Is Done

Cholesterol and triglyceride testing is done:

• As part of a routine physical examination to screen for a lipid disorder.
• To check your response to medicines used to treat lipid disorders.
• To help determine your chances of having of heart disease, especially if you have other risk factors for heart disease or symptoms that suggest heart disease is present.
• If you have unusual symptoms, such as yellow fatty deposits in the skin , which may be caused by a rare genetic disease that causes very high cholesterol levels.

Finding Out Your Triglycerides Levels

Triglycerides are measured with a simple blood test. Triglyceride levels should be measured when you have a cholesterol test as they can also contribute to your risk of developing heart disease, and other disease of the heart and blood vessels. The triglyceride test measures the triglycerides carried in chylomicrons and VLDL cholesterol. National guidelines in the UK no longer recommend a fasting blood test .

What should your triglyceride levels be?

HEART UK experts state that we should aim for a non-fasting triglyceride level below 2.3mmol/L.

If your doctor has asked you to fast for a test then your triglyceride level should be below 1.7mmol/L. This “fasting test” number is lower because only the triglycerides made by the liver and carried in the VLDL cholesterol will be measured not the triglycerides you get from food. As you have not eaten, there will be no chylomicrons present in your blood.

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What Are The Causes And Symptoms Of High Triglycerides

Causes include obesity, eating too much unhealthy food, genetics, certain illnesses including poorly controlled diabetes, kidney disease, and underactive thyroid . Some drugs, such as steroids and birth control pills, and drinking a lot of alcohol can also cause it.

Most people have no symptoms. Very high levels can cause small fat deposits under the skin and a painful inflammation of the pancreas called pancreatitis.

Your Body Naturally Makes Cholesterol

One of the biggest things we see is that people think their cholesterol levels are more tied to what they eat than they really are, said Dr. Kirley, adding that people tend to think if my cholesterol levels are high, that means I should eat less cholesterol.

The amount of cholesterol that you eat, doesnt actually impact your own cholesterol very much, she noted. And thats because your body is making cholesterol. It makes cholesterol no matter what. Even if you eat no cholesterol, your body makes cholesterol.

What you eat matters, but it has less impact on cholesterol levels than a lot of people might realize, Dr. Kirley said.

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High Cholesterol: Prevention Treatment And Research

Cholesterol is a natural component in everyones blood. However, when you have too much of this fatty substance, its considered hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia or high blood cholesterola major risk factor for heart attack, heart disease and stroke. About 71 million Americans have high cholesterol.

What Are High Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a kind of fat found in blood. Cholesterol is another kind. Stored in fat cells for later use, triglycerides are a major energy source. Normal amounts are important for good health. Eating more fat than the body burns can lead to high triglyceride levels . High triglyceride levels may result in hardening of the arteries , which increases risks of stroke, heart attack, and heart disease. They can be part of metabolic syndrome, which also includes too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and abnormal cholesterol levels.

Sometimes high triglyceride levels mean poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, low thyroid hormone levels , liver or kidney disease, or rare genetic conditions.

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Treatment Options For High Triglycerides

Having high triglycerides can raise serious health concerns, so its important to boost HDL cholesterol and lower triglyceride levels. Here are some tips in order to lower triglycerides.

• Cut out sugar the American Heart Association recommends only five percent of your daily calories come from added sugar.
• Increase your fiber intake.
• Limit fructose fructose is a type of sugar that can contribute to high triglyceride levels.
• Eat a moderately low-fat diet a moderately low-fat diet has been shown to be more effective at lowering triglyceride levels, compared to a strict low-fat diet. The AHA recommends that 25 to 35 percent of your daily calories should come from fat.
• Be mindful of the fat you eat there are good fats and bad fats. Avoid saturated and trans fats, and consume more monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat typically found in olive oil, for example.
• Increase your fish intake try salmon and sardines.
• Take triglyceride-lowering drugs if necessary and recommended by your doctor.
• Control diabetes if you have it.

By following these tips and working close with your doctor, you can have much success in lowering your triglyceride levels and protecting your heart.

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Diets Rich In Calories Carbohydrates And Saturated Fats

When you consider that your body converts calories it doesnât need right away into fatty triglycerides, itâs easy to understand how a high-calorie diet can contribute to elevated triglyceride levels.

The more calories you ingest, the more calories your body is going to keep on standbyâand the more triglycerides your liver must produce in order to store those calories.

Thatâs why a balanced diet is so important to maintaining healthy triglyceride levels. Consuming too many calories, especially from carbohydrates and unhealthy saturated fat, can cause you to have high levels of triglyceride.

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Sugar And Cholesterol: Whats The Link

On average, Americans take in 22 teaspoons of added sugars a day that can add up to 350 extra calories.

Added sugars are different from the ones naturally found in things like fruits or milk. Added sugars includes sweeteners you add to your food, like:

• Artificial sweeteners made from high fructose corn syrup.

Added sugars contain calories but not nutrients. These additional empty calories, besides affecting your weight and raising your chances for diabetes, also impact your cholesterol levels. And sugary foods affect your liver, which makes cholesterol.

Itâs important to understand that your body needs cholesterol to work well. Itâs a key ingredient your body needs to build new cells.

There are two types of cholesterol:

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol . When you have high levels of this “bad” cholesterol, the waxy, fat-like substance can build up in the walls of your arteries and can clog it. This raises your chances for a heart attack or a stroke.

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol . This is the “good” cholesterol. It picks up all the extra LDL in your bloodstream, takes it back to the liver, which then removes it from your body. HDL also lowers your chances of heart disease.

When you eat too much sugar, your liver makes more LDL while lowering the amount of HDL in your body.

Triglycerides are stored in your fat cells and released between meals when your body needs more energy.

When To Contact A Doctor

While high triglyceride levels typically do not cause symptoms, anyone concerned they may have high triglyceride or cholesterol levels should contact their doctor.

A doctor would usually measure triglyceride and cholesterol levels at the same time as high levels of either may contribute to heart conditions.

Doctors may recommend drug therapies in some cases. This may happen if a person has dangerously high triglyceride levels that need to come down quickly or if their levels do not respond to lifestyle and dietary changes.

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Natural Remedies And Lowering Cholesterol

Its very important to talk to your health professional before using any:

• natural remedies
• or complementary therapies.

Sometimes they can do more harm than good. They may interact with any medication that youre taking, which can be dangerous. They can also make your medication less effective. Your doctor needs to know everything that you are taking to ensure that the combination is safe.

If youve been prescribed cholesterol-lowering medication, make sure you take it as directed by your doctor. This is one of the most effective ways to keep your cholesterol levels down.

Some Less Common Conditions

Kidney problems

We have two kidneys, and theyre responsible for cleaning our blood by filtering out waste products which are then removed from the body as urine.

Chronic Kidney Disease . This is the name for a gradual decline in kidney function. People with CKD often have abnormal blood fats raised LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and lower HDL cholesterol. Heart and blood vessel diseases are common in people with CKD so statins and other cholesterol-lowering treatments are recommended if you have CKD.

Nephrotic syndrome. This happens when our kidneys become leaky. It results in protein leaking into the urine. People with nephrotic syndrome often have raised levels of cholesterol and triglycerides too.

Liver conditions

The liver is a very important organ. It is where cholesterol and triglycerides are processed, made or broken down. Bile, a breakdown product of cholesterol, is made in the liver, stored in the gall bladder and released into the gut when we eat a meal. Its role is to help break down fat from food into small drops which can then be easily digested.

Sometimes the production of bile or its release into the gut can become blocked, for example, if gall stones develop from crystallised cholesterol. Symptoms include pain, especially after a fatty meal. The medical name for this is cholestasis, where bile is unable to flow from the liver, and it can cause blood cholesterol levels in the blood to rise.

Gout

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What Is A High Triglyceride Level

High triglycerides can be dangerous to your health. Unfortunately, high triglycerides, like high cholesterol, rarely causes symptoms. Its vital to get routine lipid blood tests to check cholesterol numbers.

Your healthcare provider determines total cholesterol by looking at a combination of triglycerides, HDL and LDL numbers. If your triglycerides and LDL cholesterol are high, but your HDL is low, you have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

For the most accurate reading, you should fast 8 to 12 hours before a lipid blood test. A healthy number for triglycerides is below 150 milligrams per deciliter .

Your healthcare provider classifies high triglyceride levels as:

• Mild: 150-199 mg/dL.
• Severe: Greater than 500 mg/dL.

High Triglycerides: Getting Help

When it comes to cholesterol and triglycerides, perhaps the most important thing is to get regular screenings.

See your doctor and get checked out. If your triglycerides are high, you and your doctor can decide on a treatment plan — and you can make a few simple but effective changes to your lifestyle.

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What Affects My Cholesterol Levels

A variety of things can affect cholesterol levels. These are some things you can do to lower your cholesterol levels:

• Diet. Saturated fat and cholesterol in the food you eat make your blood cholesterol level rise. Saturated fat is the main problem, but cholesterol in foods also matters. Reducing the amount of saturated fat in your diet helps lower your blood cholesterol level. Foods that have high levels of saturated fats include some meats, dairy products, chocolate, baked goods, and deep-fried and processed foods.
• Weight. Being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease. It also tends to increase your cholesterol. Losing weight can help lower your LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. It also raises your HDL cholesterol level.
• Physical Activity. Not being physically active is a risk factor for heart disease. Regular physical activity can help lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol levels. It also helps you lose weight. You should try to be physically active for 30 minutes on most, if not all, days.
• Smoking.Cigarette smoking lowers your HDL cholesterol. HDL helps to remove bad cholesterol from your arteries. So a lower HDL can contribute to a higher level of bad cholesterol.

Things outside of your control that can also affect cholesterol levels include:

Normal And Critical Findings

For dyslipidemia, obtaining a detailed family history is crucial. By identifying family members with any abnormal deposits of cholesterol in the skin or eyes, premature CHD, or those who have elevated cholesterol during childhood assist in establishing a diagnosis. Perform physical examination with attention to abnormal deposits of cholesterol in the skin or eyes, such as tendon xanthomata which mostly present in the Achilles tendons and dorsum of the hands, and xanthelasmas, which are soft and yellow plaques that often present on the eyelids. Fasting lipid profile revealed the majority of the abnormalities. However, an evaluation for causes resulted in secondary hyperlipidemia is warranted. The clinician can offer genetic testing of LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9 gene mutations, even though the benefits are still not well-established.

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Cholesterol And Triglyceride Screening

Some health organizations recommend that everyone older than age 20 be checked for high cholesterol.

Some health organizations recommend that everyone age 20 and older be checked for high cholesterol.footnote 1 The Canadian Cardiovascular Society recommends cholesterol tests based on age and risk factors for heart disease. footnote 2

Talk to your doctor about when you should get a cholesterol test.

For more information, see When to Have a Cholesterol Test.

Understanding The Test Results

A full lipid profile can be an important part of your childs health information. It shows the levels of each type of fat in the blood. These include LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and total cholesterol. Your child’s doctor can tell you what the results should be for your child. In general, healthy levels are:

• LDL of less than 130 mg/dL

• HDL of greater than 35 mg/dL

Some children and teens have families with high cholesterol or early heart disease. In these cases, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute advises these levels for cholesterol:

Total cholesterol

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