Medications May Be Needed For High Triglyceride Levels
Sometimes, healthy eating and regular exercise cant lower high triglyceride levels. This may be the case, for example, if you have familial hypertriglyceridemia or if you already have heart disease. Your doctor may prescribe medication such as fibrates or nicotinic acids. Drugs to help lower high blood cholesterol may also be prescribed, if necessary.Suggestions for managing high triglyceride levels with medication include:
- Always take prescription medications exactly as instructed.
- See your doctor if you are having side effects from the medication. Known medication side effects may include indigestion, diarrhoea, fever or muscle problems.
- Dont assume that medications will somehow overcome the hazards of an unhealthy lifestyle. A healthy diet, regular exercise and maintaining an appropriate weight for your height are the most important management strategies for high triglycerides.
Tip #: Control Your Calorie Intake
One of the biggest contributors to high triglycerides is eating too many calories. Not sure if youre eating too many calories?
If you dont track your calorie intake on a food tracker app, you may not know if youre eating too many calories. But, there are a few ways to tell if youre eating too much:
- Unintentional weight gain
- History of being overweight or obese
- Your clothes have gotten tighter
Has any of the above happened to you? If yes, you may be eating too many calories. These excess calories could be causing high triglyceride readings in your blood.
So, should you eat less? Yes, but dont go too low.
Very low calorie diets can actually hinder weight loss! You shouldnt follow very low calorie diets, even if youre trying to lose weight. According to the Harvard School of Medicine :
- Women should eat no less than 1200 calories per day
- Men should eat no less than 1500 calories per day
To determine your proper calorie needs, visit a Registered Dietitian.
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Does Lemon Water Lower Triglycerides
Multiple useful cardiovascular effects have been discovered including enhancement of fibrinolytic activity, lowering of blood pressure, reduction in cholesterol, and triglyceride. The results showed that combination of garlic and lemon juice significantly reduced serum TC, LDL-C, and blood pressure.
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Refined Grains And Starchy Foods
Refined or processed grains are typically made from white flour, which can increase triglycerides. They also often have added sugars. If possible, try to limit:
- Enriched or bleached white bread, wheat bread, or pasta
- Pastries, pies, cookies, and cakes
Starchy foods can also raise triglycerides. Try to choose foods with 100% whole grains and opt for long-grain rice instead of instant rice. If possible, eat non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, instead of starchy ones like potatoes.
How Are Triglycerides Measured
Your doctor may give you a common test called a lipid panel. It checks for different types of cholesterol, including the levels of the “good” kind and the “bad” kind. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone 21 and older get a lipid panel at least every 5 years.
The levels are checked after an overnight fast. Fat from a recent meal can muddy the picture.
These tests are important because you rarely have any symptoms when your triglycerides are high, unlike with many other conditions.
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Know The Dangers Of Trans Fats
Trans fats are dangerous for your heart, because they raise low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The chief culprit youll see on product labels is partially hydrogenated oil. Trans fats are the result of adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to increase shelf life. This may make some baked and fried foods taste better, but trans fats are very unhealthy, particularly for people with high triglycerides. In fact, trans fats should make up less than 1 percent of your total calories, according to the World Health Organization. Check your food labels: If a food contains trans fats or hydrogenated oils, leave it on the shelf.
Normal Cholesterol With High Triglycerides What Is That
When measuring total cholesterol levels, low-density lipoprotein , high-density lipoprotein , and triglycerides are used in the measurement.
For adults, standard cholesterol levels are:
- Less than 200 mg/dL is desirable
- Between 200 – 239 mg/dL is considered borderline
- Over 240 mg/dL is considered high
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High Cholesterol With Low Triglycerides
When your triglyceride levels are too high, you may not have symptoms. Its a silent problem with big implications, such as a four-fold increase in the likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke.
A simple blood test is all it takes to check your triglyceride levels. If theyre too high, you can get them back under control, often by changing your daily habits.
If you already know that your triglyceride levels are too high, the actions you take now might even save your life.
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Prevention Of High Cholesterol
Regularly monitoring your cholesterol levels can also help prevent your numbers from getting too high or low. In general, healthy adults should check their cholesterol every four to six years, but your doctor may ask to check your cholesterol more often depending on your age, overall health, and other risk factors. There are other ways to prevent high cholesterol, too
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High Triglycerides Common In United States: Cdc
3 Min Read
CHICAGO â One in five Americans has high levels of blood fats called triglycerides that raise the risk of heart attacks, yet few people take drugs or other steps to control them, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They also found one-third of Americans have borderline high triglyceride levels.
A study earlier this year found the percentage of U.S. adults with high triglycerides had doubled over the past three decades, likely driven by climbing obesity rates.
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked to see how widespread the problem is and how doctors are addressing it.
Like low-density lipoprotein or LDL, known as the bad cholesterol, triglycerides can raise the risk of heart attacks. Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins help lower LDL, but they often do not treat high triglycerides, a blood fat derived from the fats people eat and fats in the body.
Increasing evidence supports triglyceride concentration as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, Dr. Earl Ford of the CDC and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
They studied data and blood samples for 5,610 people 20 or older who participated in a national health and nutrition survey between 1999 and 2004. They found that 33.1 percent had triglyceride concentrations between 150 and 199 milligrams per deciliter, a reading in the borderline high category.
Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen editing by Maggie Fox and Mohammad Zargham
Diets High In Calories Carbs And Fats
Triglyceride levels increase with a positive energy-intake balance . In other words, when you eat more than your body needs, the surplus is transformed into fat, including triglycerides. Its easier to overeat when your diet is high in calories and contains lots of carbs and saturated fats .
Low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets are among the most common causes of high triglycerides. But wait we said that high-fat diets are bad, so doesnt that mean a low-fat diet should be beneficial? Not quite .
Saturated, unhealthy fats are bad. But your body needs healthy fats such as those found in olive oil and fish oil to keep your triglyceride levels normal and to maintain your overall health. If you dont get enough dietary fats, your body will revert to transforming the sugars you consume into fats .
This goes against the popular but unfounded belief that your body wont store fat as long as you dont eat fats. In truth, high-carbohydrate diets can be much worse than high-fat diets for your triglyceride levels. Many scientists advocate that high-carb, low-fat diets likely also contributed to the obesity epidemic in America over the past few decades .
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Dos And Donts In Managing High Triglycerides:
- DO exercise regularly.
- DO eat more fruits and vegetables and high-fiber foods such as oat bran. Cook with monounsaturated fatsolive, peanut, and canola oils.
- DO stop smoking.
- DO lose weight by changing your diet and doing aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, bicycling, or swimming. Exercise at least 30 minutes daily.
- DONT forget to treat other medical conditions such as diabetes and underactive thyroid.
- DONT drink more than two alcoholic drinks per day.
- DONT change your diet or medicines without your doctors approval.
Choosing The Right Track
When insulin is around, the lipid droplets, travel on kinesin-1, on the smooth endoplasmic reticulum line. This line drops them off at the edge of the cell, where it is easy to process them for export.
When insulin is NOT around, the lipid droplets, travel on the mitochondrial line. This line, ships the lipid droplets, to the cells power stations. At the power station, the fats can be burned directly, for energy, or, split up, into ketones.
The resulting ketones are then shipped out, to provide fuel for hungry body cells.
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What You Can Do
Many of the steps you should take to lower triglycerides are the same ones you should take to protect your heart and health overall.
If you’re overweight, shed a few pounds. Get regular aerobic exercise . Limit the saturated fats in meat and dairy products. Watch your alcohol intake, even moderate drinking ramps up triglyceride levels. And diet? High-carb/low-fat eating will increase your triglycerides and lower your HDL.
If you’re taking a statin to lower your LDL, one side benefit may be reduced triglyceride levels. Depending on the dose, statins can lower triglycerides by 20%40%.
The omega-3 fats in fish and capsules are another triglyceride-lowering option. For a very high triglyceride level, your doctor can prescribe a high-dose omega-3 medication.
Image: udra/Getty Images
Treatments For High Triglyceride Levels
If you have high triglycerides, your doctor’s treatment should include healthy eating and exercise. Avoiding processed and sugary foods is paramount these dietary changes alone can have a tremendous impact on your triglyceride levels. Your doctor may also recommend taking omega 3 fatty acid supplements.
Begin today. Talk to your doctor or other health care provider about exactly what you need to do to start living a healthy lifestyle to lower triglycerides, help prevent a heart attack or stroke, avoid or manage diabetes, and reduce your chances of developing liver disease and pancreatitis.
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Choose Healthy Fats Over Saturated Fats
Another way to lower triglycerides and cholesterol naturally is by eating healthy fats. Omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides and bad cholesterol by increasing fat metabolism, according to the AHA. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in oily fish, such as salmon and herring, olive oil, and dietary supplements. For people with high triglycerides, the AHA recommends prescription-strength omega-3 fatty acid supplements at a dose of 4 grams per day, although its still best to get it from foods. Saturated fats, which come mainly from meat sources, should be limited to no more than 5 to 6 percent of your total daily calories, and your daily intake of cholesterol should be no more than 300 mg, according to the AHA.
What Causes Levels To Fluctuate
Triglyceride levels fluctuate naturally in response to many factors, including calorie intake and time of day. Eating a meal can cause an increase in triglycerides, which the body may store to use later when it needs energy.
These fluctuations are typically short-lived, but they are part of the reason why doctors may ask a person to fast before getting a lipid profile blood test.
Some health conditions may increase the risk of higher triglyceride levels. According to the
- hormone medications
- immunosuppressant drugs
Anyone who is uncertain about the side effects of their specific medication should speak with their doctor.
A person can use a few treatments to help lower their triglyceride levels.
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Lowering Triglycerides Without Medication
Unless your triglycerides are extremely high, lifestyle changes are the best place to start. These simple steps can significantly lower triglyceride levels.
- Beware of bad fats. Cutting back on saturated fat and trans fats can lower triglycerides.
- Go for good carbs. Easily digested carbohydrates give triglycerides a definite boost. Eating whole grains and cutting back on soda can help control triglycerides.
- Check your alcohol use. In some people, alcohol dramatically boosts triglycerides. The only way to know if this is true for you is to avoid alcohol for a few weeks and have your triglycerides tested again.
- Go fish. Omega-3 fats in salmon, tuna, sardines, and other fatty fish can lower triglycerides. Having fish twice a week is fine.
- Aim for a healthy weight. If you are overweight, losing just 5% to 10% of your weight can help drive down triglycerides.
- Get moving. Exercise lowers triglycerides and boosts heart-healthy HDL cholesterol.
- Stop smoking. It isnt good for triglyceride levels or for anything else.
About the Author
Gregory Curfman, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Former Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Health Publishing
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.
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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 .
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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Tip #: Get To A Healthy Weight
Achieving a healthy weight is beneficial for overall health, weight management and lowering triglycerides.
Here are the basics to a healthy weight:
The best healthy weight differs from person to person. So, to talk to a Registered Dietitian to determine the best weight for you.
This article explores 13 ways to naturally reduce your blood triglycerides. Aim for a healthy-for-you weight. Limit your sugar intake. Follow a lower carb diet. Eat more fiber. Exercise regularly. Avoid trans fats. Eat fatty fish twice weekly. Increase your intake of unsaturated fats.
Possible New Treatment For High Triglycerides
In the report in The New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of researchers describe a new therapy for high triglycerides. It involves a weekly injection of “antisense oligonucleotides” , pieces of DNA that short-circuit the livers production of triglycerides. The new report shows that ASOs can reduce triglyceride levels by as much as 70%.
Keep in mind that this was a phase 2 trial, which is designed to test whether a drug does what it is supposed to do . Larger, longer-term studies will be needed to see whether ASOs actually reduce the risk of heart disease, and what sorts of side effects they cause.
Many experimental medications that sparkle in early testing never become FDA-approved drugs. We wont know for several years whether ASOs will become available for individuals with high triglycerides.
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Increase Your Physical Activity
Exercise can have a significant impact on your overall health, including your triglycerides. By working out, youre burning those extra calories, which is crucial in reducing your triglyceride levels.
Additionally, exercise will help you shave off some pounds. Try to achieve a weight thats ideal for your height and age to reduce your triglyceride levels.
All you need is 150 minutes of physical activity per week. If youre new to exercise, you could divide it into 30 minutes per day, five days per week. You could start slowly and do a beginner workout plan.
You may also try to add more physical activity to your daily routine. For instance, you may climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or park farther away and walk a little bit longer.
A Sign Of Metabolic Syndrome
People with metabolic syndrome are several times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke. The risk of eventually developing diabetes is even greater.
A syndrome is, by definition, a group of signs and symptoms that occur together because of an underlying condition. For metabolic syndrome, that group includes abdominal obesity , high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low HDL cholesterol and, yes, levels.
So as doctors have started to take metabolic syndrome more seriously, they’ve also started to pay more attention to triglyceride levels as one of its telltale signs.
Triglycerides go it aloneHDL and triglycerides are metabolically connected and are often inversely related: As triglycerides go up, HDL goes down and vice versa. But that isn’t always so. People can have “isolated” high triglycerides without low HDL levels, and research is now showing that high triglycerides are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, no matter what the HDL is. |
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