Should you worry about high triglycerides?

Triglycerides are the main component of body fat; they also circulate in blood. Your body makes triglycerides or gets them from the foods you eat.

High triglycerides

Your body needs some triglycerides. However, having high levels of triglycerides in your blood is linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Until recently, triglycerides tended to get less attention when looking at cardiovascular risk compared with LDL and HDL cholesterol levels, unless levels were extremely high. There's no question that extremely high levels of triglycerides (1,000 milligrams per deciliter or more) spell trouble and can lead to acute pancreatitis.

What level of triglycerides is dangerous?

But what about treating lower levels of triglycerides? Recent evidence suggests you should work to reduce triglyceride levels if they are higher than normal, especially if you have heart disease or have other risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or are a smoker.

Triglycerides can be one of the signs of metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk for having a heart attack or stroke.

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 (as measured by waistline), high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low HDL cholesterol - and, yes, high triglyceride levels.

Triglycerides and HDL

Research is finding that HDL, commonly called "good" cholesterol, is more complicated than once thought. A high HDL number can be good, but raising the number with medication isn't necessarily beneficial for heart health.

Triglycerides and HDL are metabolically connected and are often inversely related: As triglycerides go up, HDL tends to go 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 an individual's HDL number is.

What causes high triglyceride levels?

Factors that can raise your triglyceride level include:

• overweight or obesity
• diabetes
• cigarette smoking
• excessive alcohol use
• certain medicines
• an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
• some genetic disorders.

How to lower high triglyceride levels

Many of the steps you can take to lower your triglycerides are the same ones that are recommended to protect your heart and health overall. Your doctor will advise you of measures you can take to lower high triglycerides. Some of these steps may include:

• exercising regularly
• losing weight
• avoiding sugar/refined carbs
• limiting alcohol intake
• quitting smoking
• getting enough sleep
• managing stress levels.

These changes can reduce triglyceride levels by more than 70% in some people.

How to lower triglyceride levels with medication

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 10% to 30%.

The omega-3 fats in fish and fish oil capsules are often mentioned as another triglyceride-lowering option. Fish is recommended as part of a heart-healthy diet; however, clinical trials and guidelines have found no benefit to taking over-the-counter fish oil supplements for high triglycerides. For a very high triglyceride level, your doctor can prescribe a high-dose omega-3 medication.

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