Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't need to use right away into triglycerides. The triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides (hypertriglyceridemia).

A simple blood test can reveal whether your triglycerides fall into a healthy range.

• Normal — Less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) (less than 1.7 mmol/L)
• Borderline high — 150 to 199 mg/dL (1.8 to 2.2 mmol/L)
• High — 200 to 499 mg/dL (2.3 mmol/L to 5.6 mmol/L)
• Very high — 500 mg/dL or above (5.7 mmol/L or above)

Your doctor will usually check for high triglycerides as part of a test called a lipid panel or lipid profile, which also checks your cholesterol levels. You'll have to fast for nine to 12 hours before blood can be drawn for an accurate triglyceride measurement.

Triglycerides and cholesterol are separate types of fats (lipids) that circulate in your blood. Triglycerides provide your body with energy, and cholesterol is used to build cells and certain hormones. Because triglycerides and cholesterol can't dissolve in blood, they circulate throughout your body with the help of proteins that transport the lipids, called lipoproteins.

Although it's unclear how, high triglycerides may contribute to hardening of the arteries or thickening of the artery walls (atherosclerosis) — which increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart disease.

High triglycerides are often a sign of other conditions that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke as well, including obesity and the metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that includes too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high blood sugar and abnormal cholesterol levels.

Sometimes high triglycerides are a sign of poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, low levels of thyroid hormones (hypothyroidism), liver or kidney disease, or rare genetic conditions that affect how your body converts fat to energy. High triglycerides could also be a side effect of taking medications such as beta blockers, birth control pills, diuretics, steroids or the breast cancer drug tamoxifen.