Triglycerides Levels: Heart related diseases are now common among people of all ages and the biggest reason for this is bad lifestyle. If you keep an eye on your blood pressure and cholesterol, then there is one more thing that you need to pay attention to.
Apart from cholesterol and blood pressure, there is also a need to focus on triglyceride. Having high triglycerides can double the risk of heart-related diseases. If your triglyceride level is high then it directly affects your heart. Therefore, it is important to understand the triglyceride level in your cholesterol report and also know how it increases and how it can be controlled.
What is triglyceride?
Like cholesterol, triglyceride is a type of fat in liquid form which is found in our blood. When its levels are high, it can increase the risk of atherosclerosis, which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. According to the American College of Cardiology, high levels of triglycerides can cause pancreatitis and inflammation of the pancreas.
When you eat, your body turns all the calories it doesn’t immediately need into triglycerides. These triglycerides get stored in your fat cells and later, hormones cause the release of triglycerides for energy between meals. If you eat more calories than you burn and take high carbohydrate foods, you may have high triglycerides.
Hidden reasons for increasing triglycerides
Lack of sleep, drinking alcohol and stress can also be hidden reasons for increasing triglyceride. According to Denver cardiologist Dr. Andrew Freeman, these are not the direct causes, but they definitely have an effect. However, when triglycerides increase, most of the time poor lifestyle is the main reason behind it. Cardiologist Dr. Douglas Jacoby (Penn Medicine, Philadelphia) says that your doctor can work with you to make a plan to reduce these.
How does triglyceride increase?
- genetics triglyceride, Some people have a familial hypertriglyceridemia condition in which triglyceride levels are higher than is determined by genetics. However, sometimes it increases even without family history. If your triglyceride levels are between 200-500 mg/dL then it could be due to genetic reasons. In more serious cases it can even go up to 4000 mg/dL which increases the risk of pancreatitis.
- Side effects of medicines can also increase triglycerides by 5% to 200%.
- According to NDA, poor diet is the most common reason for increased triglyceride. According to researchers, eating 4 or more servings of processed foods like refined grains, sugar and snacks a day can increase the risk of death by 62%.
- Due to the high amount of calories, sugar and carbohydrates, triglycerides increase rapidly when you drink alcohol.
- Lack of sleep increases the risk of blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes, which also affects triglycerides.
- Stress increases inflammation in your body and increases VLDL (very low density lipoprotein) in the liver which is considered bad cholesterol. This increases the risk of heart disease.
How to reduce triglyceride?
- daily exercise
- Exercise at least 30 minutes daily
- Avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates
- lose weight
- Choose healthy fats
- drink less alcohol
- If lifestyle is not enough, doctors can give medicines to reduce triglycerides.
People with high triglycerides should stay away from these foods
- Fry and Junk Foods
- sugar and sweets
- refined carbohydrates
- alcohol
- Full Fat Dairy and Red Meat
These 5 foods are best for triglycerides
If you want to reduce your high triglycerides with the right diet, then you must make these 5 things a part of your diet.
- Soya Chunks
- fatty fish
- Avocado
- coconut oil
- Garlic