Living with High Blood Fats
Judy Seybold, MS, RDN, LD, CLC
Chief Nutrition Officer
You may have been told you have high blood fats (triglycerides) after a recent lab test. This can leave you wondering what triglycerides are and what’s the risk of them being high. High blood fats, also known as hypertriglyceridemia, means elevated fat in the blood. Some fat is needed, but when the levels are too high, they may raise your risk for heart disease and pancreatitis. They may also be an indication of metabolic syndrome; a condition resulting from high blood pressure, excess fat around the waist, high triglycerides, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL). This syndrome is concerning as it increases the risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
When excess calories are eaten, the body stores them as triglycerides for later use as energy. If triglyceride levels become too high, they may increase the risk of heart disease and acute pancreatitis. Diagnosis can be done by your physician with a simple fasting blood test.
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Causes
Triglycerides can be elevated from medications, diet, and lifestyle choices. The following are some of the most common causes of hypertriglyceridemia:
- Excess caloric intake
- Excess alcohol intake
- Hypothyroidism
- Kidney disease
- Medicines (beta-blockers, birth control, diuretics, estrogen, steroids)
- Overweight and obesity
- Uncontrolled diabetes
Treatment
Treatment focused on lowering triglycerides alone may not be the best plan of action. Triglycerides are often elevated along with other conditions that increase heart disease risk, including low high-density lipoprotein (HDL), high low-density lipoprotein (LDL), obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, general recommendations to decrease heart disease risk for all of these factors should apply to the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia. Talk to your doctor about ruling out underlying causes of hypertriglyceridemia including hypothyroidism, poorly controlled diabetes, kidney disease, or certain medicines.
Here are some tips for reducing triglycerides, improving your overall lipid profile, and reducing heart disease risk:
- Reduce excessive body weight
- Reduce alcohol intake
- Increase physical activity
- Reduce total amount of dietary carbohydrate
- Reduce intake of sugar
- Replace saturated fat with monounsaturated fats
- Quit smoking
Healthy Eating
In addition to making lifestyle modifications such as losing weight, increasing physical activity, and quitting smoking, it’s important to eat a heart-healthy diet. Plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, lean meats, unsaturated fats, and low-fat or nonfat dairy foods should form the base. Make sure to limit sodium, sugar, saturated fat, and trans-fat. Prepare your own food as much as possible to avoid highly processed foods that can be rich in sodium.
A diet rich in fish may specifically lower triglyceride levels. It’s recommended to eat at least 2 servings of fish each week as part of a heart-healthy diet. Fish containing omega-3 fatty acids are good for your heart. These include salmon, herring, mackerel, lake trout, and sardines. Fish oil supplements can also lower triglycerides, but the medical community is not in agreement if it helps protect the heart. Talk to you doctor first before taking supplements.
Alcohol has a strong effect on triglyceride levels, and regular intake can cause a significant increase in triglycerides. Binge drinking can elevate triglycerides so much that it causes pancreatitis. Limiting or abstaining from alcohol is recommended to decrease triglycerides levels and to promote health.
If lifestyle modification including following a heart-healthy diet doesn’t work to lower triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, the addition of fibrates, niacin, omega-3 fatty acids, and statins may be recommended. Talk to your doctor about the addition of these if you haven’t achieved success with lifestyle modifications. You can also work with a dietitian to develop a heart-healthy eating plan specifically designed to decrease triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) that works for you.
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