By Geetanjali Kale, MD
This is funny story, that happened to me and my husband nearly 15 years ago. We were in our late twenties looking to buy health insurance for the first time. The lab tech was to come first thing in the morning. The night before we watch a Superman movie, eat at Taco Bell and come home by midnight. My husband’s triglycerides on the test jumped to 600!!
What! We begged with insurance company there must be a mistake. We repeated labs which came back perfectly normal, and we got our insurance. That story has always stayed with me when we talk about triglycerides. Triglycerides when circulating in large amounts can turn your blood pinkish or pale!
Hypertriglyceridemia in simple words means elevated triglycerides. When we eat food, triglycerides in the diet are absorbed in small intestine and carried through lymphatic system as chylomicrons. Some of these chylomicrons are used by our muscles and brain and tissues and leftovers are carried to liver and metabolized or broken down.
Sometimes patients have elevated triglycerides on their blood work because this above-mentioned system is overwhelmed and there are too many triglycerides, for the system to process. This can happen if a person has underlying medical condition such as Diabetes Mellitus or hypothyroidism, excessive alcohol consumption, metabolic syndrome. Triglycerides can be elevated in absence of above-mentioned conditions, simply based on poor dietary habits. Sometimes, the mechanisms in liver designed to breakdown and metabolize triglycerides don’t work due to genetic disorders and such patients can have genetic causes of hypertriglyceridemia.
The first line intervention for elevated triglycerides is dietary changes. Patients ask me which fats, should they avoid, and the answer is saturated fats found in fried foods, chips etc, but the most important thing to cut is processed simple carbohydrates and liquid calories. Those delicious tasting muffins and cookies and cakes and pastries and wafers and packaged snacks, chips, drinks are primary source of high triglycerides. Exercise always helps so does ingestion of omega 3 fatty acids. If you get them naturally consuming fish, that’s fantastic, otherwise you can take fish oil supplements.
When dietary changes are not enough to lower triglycerides, medications should be considered. High triglycerides above 500 mg/dl expose you to the risk of pancreatitis and levels above 150 mg/dl are known to increase cardiovascular risk.
When your doctor reviews your blood work, cholesterol, blood glucose with you, do focus on triglycerides as well and try to optimize those values, for healthier outcomes. Remember one high fat meal or drink can transiently raise your triglycerides significantly! Take care of yourself and always make your health a priority!