What Should Triglyceride Levels Be

What Is The Best Treatment For High Triglycerides

If your triglycerides are high, as indicated above, there are many foods to avoid and those to choose in their place.

The American Academy of Family Physicians describes a protocol for doctors to prescribe medicines such as statins and fibrates and prescription-strength niacin and fish oil supplements in extreme cases of high triglycerides.

However, in addition to smoking cessation and the addition of exercise, non-prescription supplements such as Healthy Dad Essentials Stack and Omega 3, can help lower triglyceride levels.

In particular, Revives Natural Lipid Supplement includes medically formulated ingredients that are backed by clinical research and carefully selected to help keep lipid values inside a healthy range.

Your lipid values include not just triglycerides, but cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein , and low-density lipoprotein level as well. If you find yourself asking questions like, is a cholesterol level of 5.7 high? , or knowing that you need to improve your HDL to LDL ratios, this is the formula to turn to.

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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Controlling High Triglycerides: Medical Treatment

People with heart disease and high triglycerides may need medication to bring down their levels.

• Fibrates can lower triglycerides. They modestly improve cholesterol levels, too.
• Fish oilwith omega-3 fatty acids can help keep triglycerides under control. Ask your doctor whether you should use prescription fish oil. Omega-3 acids from plant sources like flaxseed may help.
• Niacincan lower triglycerides by up to 50%. Its available as a non-prescription supplement and as a prescription drug.

Remember that to stay healthy and keep your triglycerides down, you still have to focus on improving your lifestyle.

When you talk to your doctor, discuss all of the medicines, supplements, and vitamins you take. Some common drugs like beta-blockers, birth control pills, and diuretics can cause high triglycerides as a side effect. Its possible that one of them could be causing your problem.

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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.

Establish A Regular Meal Pattern

Insulin resistance is another factor that can contribute to high blood triglycerides.

After you eat a meal, the cells in your pancreas send a signal to release insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin is then responsible for transporting sugar to your cells to be used for energy.

If you have too much insulin in your blood, your body can become resistant to it, making it difficult for your body to use insulin effectively. This can lead to a buildup of both sugar and triglycerides in the blood.

Fortunately, setting a regular eating pattern can help prevent insulin resistance and high triglycerides. For instance, research shows that not eating breakfast can lead to decreased insulin sensitivity .

An American Heart Association statement suggested that irregular eating patterns seemed less likely to achieve healthy cardiometabolic levels. They recommended intentional eating at regular times .

However, the evidence is mixed when it comes to meal frequency.

A 2013 study demonstrated that eating three meals per day significantly decreased triglycerides compared with eating six meals per day (

Regardless of how many meals youre eating daily, eating regular meals can improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood triglyceride levels.

Summary

While studies are mixed on how meal frequency affects blood triglyceride levels, research suggests that sticking to a regular meal pattern can decrease many heart disease risk factors and prevent insulin resistance.

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How Is High Cholesterol Diagnosed

Lipoprotein panel is a type of blood test that can measure cholesterol levels. Before the test, the patient may need to fast for 9-12 hours. The test gives information about different types of cholesterol:

• Total cholesterol: Shows the total amount of cholesterol in the blood. It includes both low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
• LDL cholesterol: Transports cholesterol particles throughout the body. LDL cholesterol is often called the bad cholesterol because it builds up in the walls of the arteries, making them hard and narrow.
• HDL cholesterol: Picks up excess cholesterol and takes it back to your liver.
• Non-HDL: Number is total cholesterol minus HDL. Non-HDL includes LDL and other types of cholesterol such as very lowdensity lipoprotein .
• Triglycerides: Another form of fat in the blood that can increase your risk for heart diseases, especially in women, is triglycerides.

Too much of the bad kind, or not enough of the good kind, increases the risk that cholesterol will slowly build up in the inner walls of the arteries that feed the heart and brain.

In most cases, high triglycerides are managed by making lifestyle changes. You may be advised to:

Health Effects Of High Triglycerides

Although high triglyceride levels can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, this fact has not been conclusively proven.

However, it is well known that elevated triglyceride levels are closely associated with a number of conditions that clearly increase cardiovascular risk, such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, elevated LDL cholesterol, and obesity. This means that most people with high triglyceride levels are at increased risk and must take proactive steps to reduce that risk.

Also, very high levels of triglycerides can cause pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas, which can be a very dangerous condition.

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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.

Why Are High Triglycerides Bad

Very high levels of triglycerides are associated with liver and pancreas problems.

But studies show conflicting results on the role of high triglycerides and the risk of heart disease. Not all experts agree that triglycerides play a significant role in heart problems.

High triglycerides tend to show up along with other problems, like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, high levels of badLDL cholesterol, and low levels of goodHDL cholesterol. So itâs hard to know for sure which problems are caused by high triglycerides alone.

For instance, some people have a genetic condition that seems to cause high triglyceride levels. But they donât have an increased risk of heart disease. Still, there is some evidence that high triglycerides, on their own, increase the risk of disease. Other studies show that high triglycerides may only play a minor role when other heart disease risks are taken into account.

With ongoing studies, scientists hope to find out whether drugs that lower triglycerides also reduce the risks of heart disease.

Overall, its important to remember that improving diet and lifestyle will lower triglycerides and lower the overall risk of heart and blood vessel problems.

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Test For Elevated Triglycerides

Doctors check triglyceride levels with a lipid profile, which they may refer to as a cholesterol test. In addition to measuring triglycerides, the test measures levels of HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol.

The state that a person having the test may need to refrain from drinking and eating for 812 hours beforehand. They also recommend the following:

• Healthy adults should have this test every 46 years.
• People with diabetes, heart disease, or a family history of high cholesterol should get the test more often.
• Children should have the test at least once between the ages of 9 and 11 years.
• Young people should have another test between the ages of 17 and 21 years.

What Is Being Tested

Triglycerides are a form of fat and a major source of energy for the body. This test measures the amount of triglycerides in the blood.

Most triglycerides are found in fat tissue, but some triglycerides circulate in the blood to provide fuel for muscles to work. After a person eats, an increased level of triglycerides is found in the blood as the body converts the energy not needed right away into fat. Triglycerides move via the blood from the gut to adipose tissue for storage. In between meals, triglycerides are released from fat tissue to be used as an energy source for the body. Most triglycerides are carried in the blood by lipoproteins called very low-density lipoproteins .

High levels of triglycerides in the blood are associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease , although the reason for this is not well understood. Certain factors can contribute to high triglyceride levels and to risk of CVD, including lack of exercise, being overweight, smoking cigarettes, consuming excess alcohol, and having medical conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease.

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When To Get Tested

Screening: as part of a lipid profile during a regular medical exam at least once every four to six years for adults for children, at least once between the ages of 9 and 11 and again between the ages of 17 and 21

Monitoring: may be done more frequently if you have risk factors for heart disease and/or if you are being treated for unhealthy lipid levels

Diagnosis Of High Triglycerides

A blood test can reveal whether or not you have high triglycerides. You may need to have two blood tests for accurate results. Dont eat anything for at least 12 hours before each blood test because food particularly fatty food can temporarily boost triglyceride levels in the blood and skew your test results.Triglycerides are measured in mmol/L. The range includes:

• Very high over 6 mmol/L
• High between2 and 6 mmol/L
• Borderline high between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L
• Normal below 1.7 mmol/L

The doctor may also test your cholesterol levels. In many cases, high triglycerides and high cholesterol go hand in hand. This condition is sometimes known as combined hyperlipidemia.

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What Is This Test

This group of tests measures the amount of cholesterol and other fats in your blood.

Cholesterol and triglycerides are lipids, or fats. These fats are important for cell health, but they can be harmful when they build up in the blood. Sometimes they can lead to clogged, inflamed arteries, a condition call atherosclerosis. This may keep your heart from working normally if the arteries of your heart muscle are affected.

This panel of tests helps predict your risk for heart disease and stroke.

A lipid panel measures these fats:

• Total cholesterol

• High total cholesterol

If you are already being treated for heart disease, you may have this test to see whether treatment is working.

Eat Fatty Fish Twice Weekly

Fatty fish is well known for its benefits on heart health and ability to lower blood triglycerides.

This is mostly due to its content of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid that is considered essential, meaning you need to get it through your diet.

Both the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and American Heart Association recommend eating two servings of fatty fish per week to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke .

Whats more, one study showed that eating salmon twice a week significantly decreased blood triglyceride concentration .

Salmon, herring, sardines, tuna, and mackerel are a few types of fish that are especially high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Summary

Fatty fish is high in omega-3 fatty acids. Eating two servings per week may lower triglyceride levels and decrease the risk of heart disease.

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What Are The Symptoms

High blood triglycerides usually do not cause any symptoms. Untreated or uncontrolled high blood triglyceride levels may increase your risk of serious complications such as coronary heart disease and stroke.

Very high blood triglycerides can raise the risk of acute pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas that causes severe pain in the abdomen.

Pearls And Other Issues

In April 2016, the FDA withdrew approval for the triple therapy of extended-release niacin plus fenofibrate plus a statin, citing the lack of evidence for the reduction in cardiovascular risk in statin-treated patients.

Knowledge Pearls:

• The general population’s ideal triglyceride level is less than 150 mg/dL.
• Non-HDL cholesterol levels should be calculated if triglycerides are more than 200 mg/dL, as hypertriglyceridemia is associated with atherogenic triglyceride-rich particles.
• Initiate therapy if the triglyceride level is greater than 200 mg/dL.
• Pancreatitis risk increases if triglyceride levels are more than 500 mg/dL, then dramatically rises if more than 1500-2000 mg/dL. The first target of therapy is triglycerides less than 500 mg/dL.

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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.

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Treatment Of High Triglycerides

In most cases, high triglycerides are managed by making lifestyle changes. You may be advised to:

• Exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.
• Eat less, particularly high fat foods.
• Increase the amount of fibre in your diet.
• Avoid high sugar foods such as lollies. Choose foods with a low glycaemic index such as legumes and wholegrain products.
• Eat more fish. Choose fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and trout. Omega-3 in high doses can reduce triglyceride levels.
• Cut back on alcohol. The kilojoules and sugar in alcoholic drinks can raise triglyceride levels.
• Lose excess body fat using a combination of healthy eating and regular exercise.
• Manage coexisting health conditions such as diabetes or hypertension effectively.

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How Can You Lower Triglyceride Levels

If you are diagnosed with high blood triglycerides, your doctor may first recommend that you adopt heart-healthy lifestyle changes. These may include:

• Choosing heart-healthy foods and limiting alcohol, added sugars, and foods high in saturated fat
• Getting regular physical activity
• Aiming for a healthy weight
• Getting enough good quality sleep
• Managing stress

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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Risks And Complications Of High Or Low Triglyceride Levels

The relationship between triglycerides and cardiovascular disease is not fully understood, but there is growing evidence that high levels of triglycerides in the blood increases the risk of heart problems.

Triglycerides interact with the body in complex ways, and scientists continue to study these interactions. Many studies have shown triglycerides add to inflammation that can increase damage and blockages to blood vessels.

High triglyceride levels can also lead to an inflamed pancreas or pancreatitis, which is a serious medical condition. Pancreatitis can cause severe abdominal pain, which can extend from the upper stomach to the back and can even lead to life-threatening organ failure.

• metabolic syndrome

Some medications can also have the same effect on blood triglyceride levels

In all these cases, doctors will work with the individual to treat the underlying condition or make changes to their medications.

A person can make specific lifestyle choices to reduce their triglyceride levels, including:

• avoiding smoking
• getting plenty of regular exercise
• reducing alcohol intake
• eating a healthful diet

If TG and cholesterol test results and other health markers suggest someone is at high risk of heart disease, a doctor will likely recommend treatment and a follow-up plan.

Most crucial of all is undergoing lifestyle changes, such as adopting a healthful diet, daily physical activity, and quitting smoking.