Triglycerides are BAD?

Triglycerides are the scientific name for the chemical formulation of three molecules of fatty acid combined with a molecule of the alcohol glycerol. It is derived externally from edible fat which can provide the body with energy and store any unused calories for future use. In comparison, cholesterol is produced internally by the liver to build cells and certain hormones.

Stored fat as energy


When your body needs energy for exercise, it comes from three sources -- glucose in your blood, glycogen in your muscles and liver, and triglycerides in your fat cells and in the form of free fatty acids. Blood sugar is the easiest for your body to access for energy, followed by glycogen. Fat takes longer to convert into the glucose your body needs for energy.


Other functions of fat


Triglycerides are a common type of fat found in both plants and animals accounting for about 95% of all dietary fats. Fat is required to provide insulation to keep our body warm. In fact the fat beneath the skin is like a heat pad to warm up when temperature drops. It also cushions and protects some vital organs as well as body components eg. the myelin sheath covering the brain consists of 70% fat. Recommended daily intake of fat is about 20% of our total diet.


Fat metabolism


When food containing fat enters the stomach followed by the small intestines, triglycerides are being released in globule form into the bloodstream. Similar to cholesterol, triglycerides are unable to dissolve in blood and move around with the help of proteins that transport the lipids (lipoproteins) to be used as fuel to our muscles. However, both can obstruct blood flow causing high blood sugar, excess fat around the waist and increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

The sequence of events are as follows:

1. Large fat droplets get mixed with bile salts from the gall bladder in a process called emulsification. The mixture breaks up the large droplets into several smaller droplets called micelles, increasing the fat's surface area.
2. The pancreas secretes enzymes called lipases that attack the surface of each micelle and break the fats down into their parts - glycerol and fatty acids.

     3.  These parts get absorbed into the cells lining the small intestine.

     4.  In the intestinal cell, the parts are combined with cholesterol to reassemble into packages of fat molecules called chylomicrons to allow the fat dissolve more easily in water. 
     5.  The chylomicrons are released into the lymphatic system and not go directly into the bloodstream given their size to pass through the wall of the capillaries.
     6.  The lymphatic system eventually merges with the veins, at which point the chylomicrons can then pass into the bloodstream.

     7.  Chylomicrons lasts only about eight minutes as enzymes called lipoprotein lipases found in the walls of blood vessels, fat tissue, muscle tissue and heart muscle break the fats into fatty acids for energy use.    
     8.  Under the stimulation by insulin, fatty acids are made into fat molecules and stored as fat droplets in adipose (fat) tissue around our hips (or belly) and liver, waiting to be released as energy as and when required.
     9.  When the need for energy arises, fatty acids and glucose from the liver or adipose tissue are broken apart and proceed to the mitochondria inside the muscle cells.

   10.  Excessive free fatty acids floating around are returned to the liver where they are reattached to glycerol, creating another triglycerides to be stored for further use.


 Adipose or Fat cell

Your weight is determined by the rate at which you store energy from the food that you eat, and the rate at which you use that energy. On average, a typical young male adult stores about 60,000 to 100,000 calories of energy in body fat cells. This is sufficient to support metabolic functions for 30 to 40 days without additional food. However, water intake must be maintained.


An infant usually has about 5 - 6 billion fat cells. This number increases during early childhood and puberty. Come adulthood, a healthy adult with normal body composition has about 25 to 30 billion fat cells with women having more fat cells than men. A typical overweight adult has around 75 billion fat cells and in severe obesity, this number can be as high as 250 to 300 billion!


In most instance, the number of fat cells stabilize in later years. With proper control, as the body breaks down fat, each fat cell simply gets smaller. On the contrary, frequent intake of more calories than you burn results in overweight and thus larger fat cells.


Note that other than fat, any extra food taken of carbohydrates or protein is also chemically converted into triglycerides but is 10 times less efficient than simply storing fat in a fat cell.


Causes

High level indicates the body's inability to convert fat into energy due to:

• Obesity.
• Poorly controlled diabetes.
• An underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).
• Kidney disease.
• Excessive intake of sugar.
• Excessive alcohol consumption.
• Drug medications eg. tamoxifen, steroids, beta-blockers, diuretics, estrogen, birth control pills.
• Hereditary.

When excessive calories are not burn away, they may spill over into other tissues, like the liver and the muscle giving rise to “metabolic syndrome” -- a group of risk factors for heart disease and type 2 diabetes which include:

• Obesity, especially excessive fat tissue in and around the abdomen
• High blood pressure
• Increased blood sugars (pre-diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance)
• High levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood

Range


To convert from mg/dL to mmol/L, divide by 88.5


+ Normal: Less than 150 mg/dL
Note: 35-50mg/dl and lesser is considered severely low and may be associated with hyperthyroidism, malnutrition, mal-absorption, auto-immune disorder, drug medication, low fat diet, severe stroke.

+ Borderline High: 150-199 mg/dL
Reduce carbohydrate intake is advisable. High fat diets usually do not raise trigylcerides

+ High: 200-499 mg/dL

+ Very high: 500 mg/dL or above (above 1000 mg/dL may be due to pancreatitis)
It is necessary to reduce dietary fat intake and avoid alcohol consumption to lower excessive triglycerides.

Natural remedies

+ Natural path towards lowering triglyceride levels should begin with reducing alcohol intake, cutting out smoking, and avoiding high fat foods such as red meat, fried products, high fat dairy products and simple sugars.

A diet low in saturated fats, trans fat, cholesterol and simple carbohydrates is recommended when trying to reduce high triglycerides. Get rid of “white” foods such as:

• White rice
• White bread
• Regular potatoes
• Pasta

Substitute with carbs with high fiber content that take awhile to absorb such as:

• Brown rice
• Whole grain bread
• Sweet potatoes
• Whole wheat pasta

Note:  For extra carbohydrate intake, the body is able to store about 1,200 to 1,600 calories worth of energy in the form of glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for quick use. Once glycogen stores are full, the liver sends any extra glucose to be turned into triglycerides and stored in the fat cells.

Do not forget to add healthy fats (mono- and polyunsaturated fats) as in:

• avocados
• walnuts
• chicken without the skin
• canola oil and
• olive oil

Good control of blood glucose levels often dramatically reduces triglyceride levels.

+ Incorporating a balanced exercise program into your lifestyle should be a priority, consisting of both aerobic and anaerobic exercises, performed for at least 30 minutes per day, 3 times per week.
Exercise intensity plays a role in determining whether you use triglycerides, glycogen or blood glucose for fuel. Low-intensity exercise relies mainly on free fatty acids along with a small amount each of muscle triglycerides and blood glucose. As exercise intensity increases, the amount of free fatty acids used decreases slightly, the amount of blood glucose used increases slightly and the amount of muscle triglycerides and glycogen used increases. As such aerobic exercises should be a priority to reduce triglyceride levels.

+ The main goal of a nutritional approach to lowering triglycerides is to restore or improve the body's metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates, in particular sugars and grains. This can be achieved by providing the body with vital nutrients in the right balances, eating smart with the goal of stabilizing the body's insulin levels and undergoing the ongoing process of detoxification.

There are two products proven scientifically in lowering your triglyceride levels:

1) Omega 3 Fish Oil

Omega-3 fatty acids have an amazing triglyceride lowering ability and raising HDL level. Fish oil contains an abundant amount of omega-3. The typical dose is 300 mg to 1.2 grams per day. One study found that taking 2.4 gms of EPA and 1.6 gms of DHA reduced triglycerides levels by about 26% and HDL improved by 25% in women.  Another study found an average reduction of 38% in triglyceride levels and an increase of 24% on HDL for both men and women participants taking fish on a daily basis.

A clinical trial found daily 1g doses of highly concentrated omega 3 within three months of a heart attack cut the risk of a patient later dying suddenly by 45%.

2) Garlic

A study conducted on 50 male subjects over a 12 week period showed with Omega3 taken in combination with garlic yielded better result - triglycerides dropped 34% whilst LDL fell by 9.3%.

Another study published in Clinical Cardiology proved that fish oils help decrease plasma triglyceride levels. Supplementation of highly purified DHA and EPA range from 3 to 5 grams per day has consistently shown triglyceride-lowering properties. In addition, Mayo Clinic published a review of 18 trials including 823 subjects and established that fish oil supplements significantly reduced triglycerides. According to American Heart Association's guidelines, people who have elevated triglycerides may need 2 to 4 grams of EPA and DHA per day provided as a supplement.

VIVA corner

VIVA Lipoguard is a unique revolutionary nutraceutical product developed exclusively by VIVA Life Science. Invited participants had gone through a rigorous clinical trial led by Dr. N.C. Marcos, an authority in the field of cardiovascular research at the Department of Medicine, University of Irvine, USA. Results obtained have been published in the Journal of the National Medical Association in 1997. 

The study showed after a month's intake of this product containing 1.8 gms of EPA and 1.2 gms of DHA (10 capsules daily) it reduced total cholesterol by 11%, LDL by 10% and triglycerides by 34%. Even subsequent reviews showed all participants to have normal functions of kidney and liver. At the same time, an FDA report reviewing studies on the effect of 24 fish oil products to reduce cardiovascular disease found only this product effectively tackles this problem.