Most people know their cholesterol “number” but fewer know whether their blood triglycerides are normal. And even fewer understand why it’s important to lower high triglyceride levels.
Triglycerides in the bloodstream are measured through a blood sample. This measurement is usually part of a lipid panel your doctor routinely performs to ensure your blood lipids are in the normal range. With so much focus on blood cholesterol, blood triglycerides don’t get the attention they should. An elevated blood triglycerides level carries some risks of its own. Here’s why you should monitor your blood triglyceride level.
High Triglyceride Risks: What Are Triglycerides?
Triglycerides are fats. Your body absorbs them from the food you eat and carry them into your bloodstream on carriers called lipoproteins to other cells. Their main role is to serve as an energy source for cells. Your liver also produces triglycerides that circulate on lipoprotein carriers in your bloodstream. When cells don’t need triglycerides for energy, fat cells can store the excess as body fat for later use when fuel stores run low. The problem is some people have too many triglycerides in their blood, which can set the stage for health problems.
Risks of a High Triglyceride Level: Bad for Your Heart and Brain
You may already know that increased triglyceride levels are linked to heart disease, but what you may not know is that having high triglyceride levels also raises your risk for stroke. According to a study published in the Annals of Neurology, the risk of ischemic stroke (the most common kind) rises as levels of non-fasting triglycerides in the blood goes up.
In this study, women with a triglyceride level of more than 445 mg/dl (normal is less than 150 mg/dl), had a 4 times greater risk of stroke than those whose triglycerides were in the normal range. At least for women, a high triglyceride level was more important for determining stroke risk than an elevated cholesterol level. Both triglycerides and cholesterol are important for determining stroke risk in men.
Researchers are quick to point out that you can’t prove cause and effect from a single study – and lowering your triglyceride levels won’t necessarily reduce your risk of stroke. Triglycerides may simply be a marker for other biochemical changes that elevate stroke risk. Hopefully, more studies will determine whether reducing triglyceride levels can help prevent a stroke. Still, most experts believe high triglycerides should be considered a risk factor for stroke, especially for women.
If you’re curious as to what a normal value for triglycerides is:
- Normal: Less than 150 mg/dL
- Borderline High: 150 to 199 mg/dL
- High: 200 to 499 mg/dL
- Very High: Greater than 500 mg/dL
If your triglyceride level is outside the normal range, talk to your physician.
An Increased Triglyceride Level Can Be a Sign of Metabolic Syndrome
A high triglyceride level can also be a marker for another common health condition called metabolic syndrome, a group of conditions that increase the risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes. High triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol, high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure and a high fasting glucose are all features of this syndrome. If a person has two or more of these conditions and abdominal obesity, they have metabolic syndrome and are at elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease. So, elevated triglycerides increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Other High Triglyceride Risks
Very high triglyceride levels are also at-risk factor for pancreatitis, an inflammatory condition of the pancreas that’s painful and can be fatal. Scientists don’t fully understand the relationship between high triglycerides and pancreatitis, but very high triglycerides are a risk factor for this often-serious condition.
Excess triglycerides can also damage blood vessels, including ones that carry blood and oxygen to the brain, leading to clogging and hardening of the arteries in your central nervous system. This reduces blood flow to the brain and can lead to vascular dementia, a form of dementia related to blood vessel damage and tiny strokes that occur in the brain.
A study also found that high triglycerides may contribute to Alzheimer’s dementia too. According to Neurology Advisor, the study found that individuals with elevated triglycerides during middle age were more likely to have B-amyloid proteins in their brain.
B-amyloid proteins are a type of protein that is found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists believe these proteins play a role in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s. Although the exact function of b-amyloid proteins is not fully understood, it is believed that they may be involved in the formation of plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
So, high triglycerides may harm your brain and increase the risk of dementia in more than one way.
Conclusion
Know your triglyceride “number” just as you know your cholesterol and ensure your doctor checks it regularly. This value is as important as your cholesterol for determining your risk for heart disease and stroke. As you now know, high triglycerides are harmful to brain health too and may contribute to cognitive decline.
If you have elevated triglycerides, your doctor may recommend lifestyle changes first. If those don’t bring your triglyceride level down in a timely manner, they may recommend triglyceride-lowering medications. Here are some lifestyle changes that may lower your blood triglyceride level:
- Meet the established guidelines for exercise, at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise weekly or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise.
- Eliminate or reduce sugar and ultra-processed carbohydrates. Both are linked with high triglycerides.
- Shift the type of fats you eat away from saturated fat in meat and dairy and toward monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in fatty fish, nuts, and seeds.
- Reduce or eliminate alcohol.
- Increase the fiber content of your diet by eating more plant-based foods.
References:
- org. “Why Does Hypertriglyceridemia Lead to Pancreatitis?”
- “Increased midlife triglycerides predict brain β-amyloid and tau ….” 02 Jan. 2018, https://n.neurology.org/content/90/1/e73.
- Nordestgaard LT, Christoffersen M, Afzal S, Nordestgaard BG, Tybjærg-Hansen A, Frikke-Schmidt R. Triglycerides as a Shared Risk Factor between Dementia and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: A Study of 125 727 Individuals. Clin Chem. 2021 Jan 8;67(1):245-255. doi: 10.1093/clinchem/hvaa269. PMID: 33418579.
- “Increased Midlife Triglyceride Levels Predictive of Alzheimer Disease ….” 04 Jan. 2018, https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/topics/neurodegenerative-diseases/increased-midlife-triglyceride-levels-predictive-of-alzheimer-disease-pathology/.
- “Dietary Fat and Cholesterol | Oklahoma State University.” https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/dietary-fat-and-cholesterol.html.
- “Triglycerides: Why do they matter? – Mayo Clinic.” https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/triglycerides/art-20048186.
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