Triglycerides - Causes, Medications, Symptoms, Risk Factors, and Treatment

What Are Triglycerides?

Triglycerides are common fats that are usually found in your blood. When you eat extra calories your body doesn't need, they're converted to triglycerides and stored as fat. Triglycerides are essential for your body to function well. But its level should be within the normal range. Variation in your triglyceride levels may cause health issues.

What Is the Normal Triglyceride Level?

Triglycerides in the blood fall within certain ranges. These help us to know whether the ranges are normal or abnormal.

• Normal triglyceride levels are less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).

• Borderline levels of triglycerides are 150 to 199 mg/dL.

• High triglyceride levels are 200 to 499 mg/dL.

• Very high levels of triglycerides are 500 mg/dL or more.

Higher levels of triglycerides may pose a risk of heart disease. It is important to maintain normal triglyceride levels to avoid heart-related diseases.

What Are the Causes of High Triglycerides?

High triglycerides mean too much fat in the blood. This may be caused by many reasons. These include:

• Unhealthy Lifestyle:

These include eating unhealthy foods such as fried items, sweets, fatty foods, and foods prepared with refined flour, which can raise triglycerides. Other unhealthy lifestyles include alcohol consumption and sitting for too long.

• Being Obese or Overweight:

Having excess body weight, especially around the abdomen, may lead to high triglycerides.

• Uncontrolled Diabetes:

Whenever there are increased sugar levels (diabetes) in the blood, the body converts them to triglycerides. This automatically increases triglyceride levels.

• Family History or Genetic Condition:

Some individuals tend to have high triglycerides. This may be due to family history or genetics, despite having healthy lifestyles.

• Medical Conditions:

Some medical conditions, such as an underactive thyroid gland, hormonal imbalance, kidney disease, and liver disease, may lead to high triglycerides.

• Alcohol Consumption:

Alcohol tends to increase the levels of triglyceride production in the liver.

• Certain Medicines:

Some medicines, like steroids, blood pressure medicines, psychiatric medicines, and hormonal medicines, can cause increased triglycerides.

• Pregnancy:

During pregnancy, hormonal changes do occur. As a result, triglyceride levels are elevated.

• Lack of Physical Activity:

If you do not exercise regularly, it may reduce your body's ability to burn fat. This further leads to elevated triglyceride levels.

What Are the Symptoms of High Triglycerides?

High triglycerides do not cause symptoms in the early stages. These can be identified through blood tests. Some symptoms may appear whenever its levels are very high. These include:

• Severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting indicate inflammation of your pancreas.

• Yellowish-white fatty lumps are present below the skin. If these lumps are particularly present on the elbows, knees, back, or around the eyes.

• Blurred or milky-looking vision due to fat deposition in the eyes.

• Chest pain or breathlessness may occur due to an increased risk of heart disease.

• Pain or cramps may occur due to poor blood circulation.

Long-term high triglycerides may increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke, inflammation of the pancreas, and poor blood circulation. As high triglycerides do not show any warning signs, it is important to check your blood regularly to monitor them and reduce their risks.

Is Hypertriglyceridemia the Same As High Cholesterol?

When your triglycerides increase, your bad cholesterol levels also rise, while good cholesterol may go down. If you have high triglycerides with low good cholesterol, it is dangerous. This can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Hence, it is important to maintain healthy levels of triglycerides and good cholesterol to protect your heart and blood vessel health.

How to Lower Triglyceride Levels?

You can lower your triglyceride levels in the following ways:

• Regularly practice doing exercises, including walking, cycling, or light workouts. These help burn fat and keep you healthy.

• Try to reduce your weight if you are overweight or obese. Reducing your extra fat can improve your health.

• It is better to reduce carbohydrate intake, particularly from white rice, white flour, sweets, and other sugary foods.

• Eat more fiber-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and pulses. Fibers help in lowering cholesterol and help in digestion, too.

• Avoid foods like bakery products, fried foods, packaged foods, and fast foods that often contain trans fat.

• Limit your intake of sugar, sweets, soft drinks, and sweetened beverages.

What Are the Exercises to Reduce the Triglyceride Level?

Warming-up exercises help prepare your body for further exercise and reduce the risk of injury. Our bodies need some rest, too; hence, you can choose alternative days to practice exercises. Cardio exercises can help reduce weight by burning calories and, in turn, reduce triglycerides. Other exercises like jump squats, crab plank, burpees, mountain climbers, and running up the stairs can help reduce body fat and help lower triglycerides. To achieve the best results, diet and exercise should go hand in hand.

What Foods Should Be Taken to Reduce Triglycerides?

Eating right and healthy foods can help reduce your triglycerides and cholesterol. Foods to be included in your diet are:

• Fish such as salmon and sardines.

• Flax seeds, beans, oats, nuts.

• Almond milk, orange juice, avocado.

• Foods made with bran, like a bran muffin.

These foods help reduce unhealthy fats and keep your heart healthy. You should try to avoid chocolates, sweets, and candies. You should limit or avoid coffee if your doctor has advised it.

How to Get a Diagnosis of High Triglycerides?

The diagnosis of high triglycerides is done through a blood test. This test is called the lipid profile test. It checks for different types of fats in the blood. Fats provide energy to the body, but excess amounts can cause harmful effects.

A lipid profile test helps assess your heart and overall health. This test can be done once in five years or as recommended by your physician.

What Is a Triglyceride Test?

Instructions to Follow Before the Triglyceride Test:

Before the test, you need to fast for about 10 to 14 hours. During this time, you should drink only water and avoid all other foods and drinks. You should also avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours before the test. This test requires a blood sample, which is drawn from a vein in your arm.

Before Collecting the Blood:

• The area should be cleaned with a solution to prevent infection.

• A tight band is tied around your arm to make the veins more visible.

• A needle is inserted into the vein, and blood is collected into a tube.

• After collecting the blood, the band is removed.

• A small cotton pad is placed to stop bleeding.

After the sample is tested, the laboratory processes it, and the results may take a few hours.

What Is the Treatment for High Levels of Triglycerides?

High levels of triglycerides can be treated by following these methods:

• Stopping drinking alcohol, as even small amounts can greatly increase triglyceride levels.

• Try skipping one meal once a week, if your doctor says it is safe for you.

• Exercise regularly, such as walking or light workouts, to help control fat levels in the blood.

• Eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat meals.

Making these lifestyle changes can keep bad cholesterol low, good cholesterol high, and triglyceride levels under control.

Conclusion

Triglycerides are of many types. These are essential for our body and provide energy for proper function. If they are at high levels, it may lead to many health problems, especially related to heart health. High triglycerides do not even show any symptoms. Hence, it is important for us to check our triglyceride levels to determine whether we have any health issues. You can also consult a heart health specialist for guidance and treatment.

Key Takeaways

• Triglycerides are types of fat found in our blood.

• Triglyceride levels should be within normal limits; otherwise, they may form plaques in arteries, causing risk of heart attacks and stroke.

• Triglycerides are formed from excess unused calories. Hence, healthy lifestyles are important to keep them in the normal range.