Very often you hear your friends, colleagues or relatives who are above the age of 30 discuss their “high triglycerides levels”. It is very common during this age period. Triglycerides are basically a common type of fat present in your body. These fats are usually converted into energy when needed. Under certain conditions and in certain people, blood tests may reveal significantly higher levels of triglycerides.
Why should you take a triglyceride test?
While a lot of people might not know that they have high cholesterol, they might also have symptoms of high triglyceride. It is usually your doctor who recommends these tests if you are at high risk of diabetes or high blood pressure or other symptoms that might lead to heart disease.
Both triglycerides and cholesterol levels are checked alongside with a test called lipid panel test. A 9 to 12 hour fast is usually recommended prior to the test. Given below is a general chart, but your doctor is the best person to guide you forward with these numbers.
- Normal: Less than 150 mg/dL
- Borderline: 150 to 199 mg/dL
- High: 200 to 499 mg/dL
- Very high: 500 mg/dL or above
How do Triglycerides become dangerous?
Studies show that high triglyceride level combined with high LDL (bad) cholesterol or low HDL (good) cholesterol deposits fat along the walls of the arteries and hardens them. This puts people at higher risk for heart diseases. In simple terms, high triglycerides play a huge role as cloggers in the arteries.
Symptoms
According to studies, there are no isolated symptoms for high triglycerides. They keep showing up along with problems like high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and stroke.
Therefore, it is really difficult to determine which of these problems were caused by high triglycerides.
One of the visual indicators for high triglycerides is the “muffin top” also called “love handles” – excess flab that hangs over the trouser belt by the sides of the stomach.
Cause
Triglycerides go up when there is excessive storage of fat in the body and there is no way of converting it into energy. High triglycerides are usually found along with the following:
- Obesity
- Heavy alcohol consumption
- Unmanaged diabetes
- Smoking
- Poor or non-existent exercise
- Hypothyroidism
- Kidney disease
Genetic causes
High triglycerides can also be inherited from your parents. It is a genetic condition called Familial hypertriglyceridemia. If you are obese, diabetic or prone to heart diseases, it is always good to check with your parents if they have high triglyceride levels, report this information to your doctor along with your own test results.
Test Recommendation
It has been recommended that every adult 20 years and older should have their triglyceride levels tested and make lifestyle changes as advised by their doctor. Make sure you do not ignore the symptoms of high triglycerides.
Research
Until recently, there was very little information linking high triglycerides levels with the clogging of arteries heart or stroke. Scientists are now beginning to confirm that triglycerides might have more than a significant role to play in strokes and heart attacks.
