What Are Triglycerides?

What Do Triglycerides Do?

When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't immediately need into triglycerides. These are then stored in fat cells and released later when your body needs energy.

Think of triglycerides as your body's energy reserve.

While this process is normal, consistently consuming more calories than your body uses can contribute to raised triglyceride levels over time.

What Causes High Triglycerides?

Several factors can contribute to elevated triglyceride levels, including:

• Carrying excess weight
• A diet high in sugar, refined carbohydrates or saturated fat
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Not being physically active
• Certain medical conditions
• Some medications
• Family history and inherited conditions

Many people with raised triglycerides have no symptoms, which is why regular health checks can be important.

Triglycerides and Cholesterol: What's the Difference?

Triglycerides and cholesterol are both types of fat found in the blood, but they have different roles.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is used to build cells and make important substances such as hormones and vitamin D.

Triglycerides

Triglycerides act as a source of stored energy. Both are measured during a blood lipid test and both play a role in overall heart health.

How Are Triglycerides Measured?

Triglycerides are usually checked as part of a blood test called a lipid profile.

This test may include:

• Total cholesterol
• LDL ("bad") cholesterol 
• HDL ("good") cholesterol
• Non-HDL cholesterol
• Triglycerides

Understanding your results can help you make informed choices about your diet and lifestyle.

What Are Healthy Triglyceride Levels?

As a general guide:

• Fasting triglycerides: 2 mmol/L or below
• Non-fasting triglycerides: Below 4 mmol/L

How Can I Lower Triglycerides?

If your triglycerides are higher than recommended, there are several practical steps that may help.

Maintain a Healthy Weight

If you're carrying excess weight, even small reductions can have a positive impact on triglyceride levels.

Be More Active

Regular physical activity helps your body use fat more efficiently and supports overall heart health.

Try to find activities you enjoy, whether that's brisk walking, cycling, swimming or gardening. Consistency is more important than intensity.

Cut Back on Sugar

Sugary drinks, sweets and highly processed foods can contribute to higher triglyceride levels.

Choosing more whole foods and reducing added sugars can help support healthy levels.

Choose Healthier Fats

Swap foods high in saturated fat for foods containing unsaturated fats, such as:

• Olive oil
• Rapeseed oil
• Nuts and seeds
• Avocados
• Oily fish

Drink Alcohol in Moderation

For some people, alcohol can have a significant impact on triglyceride levels. Reducing alcohol intake may help lower them.

Can Omega-3 Help?

Certain omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA and DHA, contribute to the maintenance of normal blood triglyceride levels when consumed in sufficient amounts.

Good food sources include:

• Salmon
• Mackerel
• Sardines
• Herring
• Trout

Including oily fish in your diet can be a useful part of an overall heart-healthy lifestyle.

Looking After Your Heart

Triglycerides are just one part of the heart health picture.

For long-term cardiovascular health, it's important to focus on a combination of healthy habits, including:

• Eating a balanced diet
• Managing cholesterol levels
• Being physically active
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Not smoking
• Drinking alcohol in moderation

Small changes made consistently can make a meaningful difference over time.

Take the Next Step

If you haven't had your cholesterol and triglycerides checked recently, consider booking a blood test with your healthcare professional.

Understanding your numbers is the first step towards making informed choices for your heart health.

The world of heart health can be a complicated place. Cholesterol, HDL, unsaturated fat, triglycerides … what do all these terms mean? The ProActiv^® website aims to help you understand this complicated terminology and enable you to take control over your own heart health.In this article, we focus on that tricky last term: triglycerides. It’s a word you’ve probably heard bandied about before, but what is a triglyceride, really? Luckily, it’s quite simple. We’ve covered the key basics here: what triglycerides are, and how to lower them.

So, what are triglycerides?

Triglycerides are a type of fatty substance, or lipid, used as a source and store of energy by the body. They’re produced by the liver and also gained through the diet from the foods we eat.

Triglyceride levels in the blood are affected by diet because of what happens when we don’t burn off sufficient calories: triglycerides can start to build up. This may lead to raised triglyceride levels in the blood, which is a possible risk factor for heart disease*.

It’s worth noting though that there are other causes of raised triglycerides, including a genetic predisposition to high triglycerides and a condition called Familial Combined Hyperlipidaemia, where both cholesterol and triglycerides are above the normal range.

Cholesterol and triglycerides: What’s the connection?

In general, the higher your triglycerides, the lower your HDL (also called “good”) cholesterol. As such, it’s good to be aware of your triglyceride levels and make sure they are not too high.

To know your numbers, you need to take what’s called a full lipid profile. This is a blood test that looks at the different types of fat in your blood and tells you the levels of each one. Usually the test results will include total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL- and HDL-cholesterol. Once you know your numbers, you’re empowered to do something about it if need be.

So, what are the recommended triglyceride levels?

• Fasting triglycerides = 2mmol/L or less
• Non-fasting triglycerides = less than 4mmol/L

How to lower triglyceride levels

If you’re wondering how to lower triglycerides, you should know that a healthy lifestyle is key:

• Get to, and maintain, a healthy weight. Studies have shown that if you’re overweight, losing that extra weight can help to bring triglycerides down.
• Be more active. Upping the amount of exercise you regularly do has also been shown to help. The NHS recommends 30 minutes a day for at least five days a week – start there and build up to more if you have the time.
• Talk to a healthcare professional. If your triglyceride levels are higher than they should be, it’s important to sit down for a chat with a healthcare professional. They are trained to test your blood, explain the results and then give you the low-down on what are triglycerides and how to lower them, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Maintaining healthy triglycerides

If you already know how to reduce triglycerides and are taking the necessary steps, you might also be interested in how you can help to maintain healthy triglyceride levels.

One thing that can contribute towards the maintenance of normal blood triglyceride levels is to eat 2 – 5g a day of two specific types of omega 3. These are EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which are found in certain types of oily fish and algae*.

While you’re unlikely to eat algae, oily fish are a little bit easier to locate: mackerel, salmon, and sardines are all tasty options.

Other things to consider

Taking good care of your heart means doing more than just lowering triglycerides. Having a healthy, balanced diet is key, as well as maintaining desirable cholesterol levels and following a few simple health maintenance rules. Find out more about how to have a healthy heart here.

OK, so what next?

There are lots of small, simple steps you can take to lower or maintain triglycerides, so take the first step today and book in a test! And for advice on having a healthy lifestyle and diet, including recipes, tips on heart health, fitness guides, and more, download our free Cholesterol Lowering Starter Kit.

* Raised triglycerides is a possible risk factor for heart disease. There are multiple factors that affect heart health, and you may need to tackle all of them to reduce the overall risk of it.
**DHA and EPA contribute to the maintenance of normal blood triglyceride levels.