The American Heart Association has set guidelines for triglyceride levels:[3]

Level Level
Interpretation
mg/dL mmol/L

<150 <1.69 Normal range, low risk

150-199 1.70-2.25 Borderline high

200-499 2.26-5.65 High

>500 >5.65 Very high: high risk

Please note that this information is relevant to triglyceride levels as tested after fasting 8 to 12 hours.
Triglyceride levels remain temporarily higher for a period of time after eating.

[edit] Reducing triglyceride levels

Diets high in carbohydrates, with carbohydrates accounting for more than 60% of the total caloric
intake, can increase triglyceride levels [3]. Of note is how the correlation is stronger for those with higher
BMI (28+) and insulin resistance (more common among overweight and obese) is a primary suspect
cause of this phenomenon of carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia [4].

There is evidence that carbohydrate consumption causing a high glycemic index can cause insulin
overproduction and increase triglyceride levels in women. [5]

Adverse changes associated with carbohydrate intake, including triglyceride levels, are stronger risk
factors for heart disease in women than in men. [6]

Triglyceride levels are also reduced by exercise, omega-3 fatty acids from fish, flax seed oil, and other
sources. Recommendation in the U.S. is that one ingest up to 3 grams a day of such oils. It has been
found that residents in Western countries do not ingest sufficient quantity of food with omega-3. In
Europe, the recommendation is for up to 2 grams. However, omega-3 consumption should be balanced
with omega-6 fatty acids, in a ω-6/ω-3 ratio between 1:1 and 4:1 (i.e., no more than four grams omega-6
for every one of omega-3).[7][8]

Carnitine has the ability to lower blood triglyceride levels. [9] In some cases, fibrates have been used to
bring down triglycerides substantially.[10]

Heavy use of alcohol can elevate triglycerides levels. [11]

If we are going to use our food to lower triglyceride levels obviously we are going to have to
avoid or minimize certain foods. Fortunately many of the things that we need to avoid are
also helpful in balancing our cholesterol. There is one noticeable exception, however. That
is…
Alcohol

I know. You were afraid I was going to say that.

It is true that wine can bolster heart health. Moderate alcohol consumption can increase
HDL (good) cholesterol which in turn benefits heart health. Personally I love that fact.
But unfortunately alcohol is easily converted into triglycerides.
If you already have an overabundance of serum triglycerides then you will want to avoid
alcohol until your triglycerides come down.

The second way we can use food to lower triglyceride levels is by cutting down on…

Sugar

You are probably thinking that I am no fun at all. I know how you feel. Eating sugar is like a
hobby for me the way some people watch football or work in their gardens. But I have had
to cut down. And in reality I find that I don’t crave sugar like I used to. I also feel better by
not eating so much.

When I mention sugar you know what I mean. At the very minimum this means pies, cakes,
sweet rolls, sodas, candies…you get the picture.

My favorite is ketchup. You may be surprised to know that ketchup is extremely high in
sugar. You can get some at the health food store that uses better sweeteners.

Unfortunately the scenario goes way beyond this. For some reason commercial production
of many foods (even most foods) includes added sugar. Check the labels when you buy.
Even breakfast cereals that advertise heart health benefits have highly processed sugars
added to their other highly processed ingredients.

Products like baked beans provide another example. Beans are high in fiber and are
themselves beneficial in a diet designed to promote heart health and reduce triglycerides.
But typically the commercially prepared varieties are loaded with sugar.

Fruit

Not all fruit. Avoid the fruit look-a-likes.

The question of fruits and fruit juices is an important one and not as easily answered. That
is because it is related to the issue of sugar. First let it be said that fruit drinks typically are
less fruit than drink.

I remember growing up - perhaps you do to - seeing a series of commercials advertising

their product as containing 10% real fruit juice. The product is still around and is
characteristic of many products. Such a statement should seem to us ridiculous. It should
be hidden in the fine print as an embarrassment. Instead it was pronounced, as it were,
from the mountain top. They were proud of their 10%. And a whole culture has been duped
by it, is being duped by it.

But this is slightly beyond the present point. The important point is many so called fruit
drinks are mixes loaded with sugar. The sugar may be in the form high fructose corn
syrup but it is still sugar.
If you are going to consume fruit juice make sure it is juice from fruit, not substitutes, and
with no added sugar.

Whole fruit is necessary to a healthy diet. But canned fruits, again, are often loaded with
sugar.

That being said we must remember that fruit has sugar in it which can be converted to
triglycerides. When trying to bring triglycerides down limit the amount of fruit consumed.

Forget the fruit drinks that have some fruit in them and stay away from canned fruit with
added sugar or fructose.

Simple Carbohydrates

Next on the list of food to lower triglyceride levels are simple carbohydrates. We have
already talked about sugar, which is a simple carbohydrate. But foods like white rice and
breads or pastas made from white flour should be avoided. This would include processed
cereals, crackers and other snacks.

When we say white flour we mean flour that has been processed and bleached. There is a
wheat flour that is naturally white, or nearly so. This is still whole wheat unprocessed flour
and is full of good natural stuff.

Products that have been made from processed flours are more easily converted into
triglycerides and have much lower nutritional value.

Fats

The final category concerning food to lower triglyceride levels is

fat. Surprisingly not all fats are to be avoided. The ones to avoid
would include saturated fats and polyunsaturated fats if they have
been hydrogenised. The latter includes a surprising number of
products. Read the labels.

Look for the phrase 'partially hydrogenated'.

The most notorious is margarine and similar products. These

contain trans-fats which have been blamed for the great increase
in heart disease.

Other fats would include butter, lard, animal fats, gravies, cream sauces and tropical oils
such as palm and coconut.

Nuts are high in fat and, though good for your health, can be a bit of a problem when trying
to reduce triglycerides. However, they are better than some other protein sources.

Whole milk, ice cream and other milk products with high fat content add to the problem.
Select lean cuts of meat and don’t eat more than 6 ounces per day.

Use some common sense when choosing meat. Meat with high fat content is of course off
the good list. Bacon, sausage, fatty fowl like duck or goose should be limited or avoided.
Processed lunch meats are not good for many reasons. Removing the skin from chicken and
turkey reduces the fat content. Hotdogs and hamburgers? Do you really need to ask?
Organ meats - not a temptation to me - are high in fat.

Avoid Certain Food To Lower Triglyceride Levels

As I mentioned earlier high triglycerides are linked to coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease is the top killer of men and women in developed countries
like the US.

Avoiding certain foods to lower triglycerides is a bit inconvenient. But if it will help you
reduce your risk of developing coronary heart disease then it is worth the trouble.

Heart Health Note:

Coronary heart disease is primarily brought on by what we do. It has been

demonstrated that high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent and even
reverse the occurrence of coronary heart disease. Omega-3 also lowers
triglycerides.

The average diet supplies very little Omega-3 which is part of the reason
coronary heart disease is so prevalent. Make sure your diet is rich in Omega-3.

Here is a great Omega-3 supplement at a very good price.

Omega-3 and Triglycerides

Omega-3 and Coronary Heart Disease

Avoid certain foods if your triglycerides are high. You can lower triglycerides with a bit of
discipline.
 Diet to Lower Triglycerides:
It Just May Save Your Life
Why should I diet to lower triglycerides? Because…

Your Diet May Be Causing Coronary Heart Disease

That’s right. The number one killer of men and women in the US may be right there in the
things you eat. Essentially that means we are killing ourselves. Or to put it in another
familiar way…

We are eating ourselves to an early grave.

O.K. I admit that it isn’t entirely that simple. However triglyceride levels and the
development of coronary heart disease are strongly tied to diet for many of us. That means
if we adhere to a diet to lower triglycerides we can discourage the development of a deadly
disease.

In another section we considered what foods to avoid to lower

triglycerides. Here we turn our attention toward the positive. What is…

A Good Diet To Lower Triglycerides

Changing one’s diet to lower triglycerides is not merely a matter of what to give up. It is
also a matter of what to eat.

Contrary to how it may seem there are many foods not on the "Avoid" list. Humanity
somehow survived millennia without ice cream, cakes, margarine and other trans-fatty
products.

Many of the foods listed below do more than just not raise triglycerides. They all provide
nutritional benefits and many help reduce triglycerides.

So what does a diet to lower triglycerides look like?

Fruit

In the "foods to avoid" section we learned that sugar is a major enemy. But we can have
some sugar in our diets. People respond differently to triglyceride conversion. But by
replacing refined sugar with whole fruit we not only remove an easy target of triglyceride
conversion but we gain fiber and phytonutrients essential to good health.

If we can acquire organically grown fruits which have been recently picked - preferably from
our own garden - we gain an abundance of vitamins far superior to those sitting in the store
after being shipped for days or weeks. Of course even the grocery store version is far
superior to that tempting candy bar. And the locally grown organic fruit is superior to both.

Eat fruit. If you are restricting your diet faithfully and still need to reduce triglycerides you
may want to limit your fruit intake to two or three servings a day.

Carbohydrates

Yes, carbohydrates can be in a good diet to lower triglycerides. We need carbohydrates. But
not the simple kind. For example: bread. White bread is stripped of most of its nutrition.
That is why it is "fortified". But bread made from a variety of whole grains is a different
story.

It is high in fiber and nutrition and is not so quickly turned into triglycerides.

If possible buy whole grain flours and use a quality bread machine to make your own. Why
not? Or go nuts. Buy the whole grains and grind them yourself just prior to making the
bread. Flour tends to lose its nutritious value quickly once ground. Whole grains have a
longer shelf-life.

The same goes for rice and pastas. Not that you buy a rice making machine. But don’t
shy away from these completely. Just stay away from the white varieties. There are many
varieties of non-white rice and whole grain pastas available. If they are difficult to find in
the local store they can be found in health food stores.

Fiber

We have mentioned fruits and whole grains. But there are other high fiber foods we should
eat such as…

 Dried beans
 Flaxseed (high in omega-3)
 Rice and oat bran
 A variety of vegetables.

Some dark green leafy vegetables provide omega-3. Foods high in fiber will help control
your triglycerides as well as your LDL ("bad") cholesterol.

Heart Health Note:

If you are concerned with your cholesterol there are a number of natural
alternatives to help you keep it in check.

Natural cholesterol care supplement.

This latter group (fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, etc) is sadly left out of most diets. It is
possible to get too many fruits when you have a problem with triglycerides. But my guess is
it is rather rare. The problems usually lie elsewhere in our diets.

Five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables per day in lieu of the sugary-fatty things
already in the average diet would be a vast improvement. Eat lots of vegetables.
Get rid of the sugary Twinkie-type things before reducing your fruit intake.

Meat

They say you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Actually we are
not going to eat cake at all. But meat can be in a good diet to
lower triglycerides. For many of us meat is a necessity.

When choosing red meats select the leanest cuts.

A little extra work in preparing them will produce a fine meal. Just
don’t eat too much. Six ounces should be plenty.

White meat is lower in fat than red meat, especially when the skin
is removed. Frying is the least preferable method of cooking since
it usually involves the addition of oils and the process can create some trans-fats.

There is also the other white meat, except it often is not so white. And it isn’t pork. It is
fish.

I grew up in Florida and caught my own. Of course we usually fried it. Those were great
days. Now I am land-locked and have to buy my fish. I know relatively few fish lovers. But I
still like it and my family strives to eat a sufficient amount of it.

I love the white meat of the warm water reef varieties like grouper and snapper. But the
best varieties are the fattier cold-water ones. These would include...

 Salmon
 Mackerel
 Tuna
 Anchovies

... to mention a few.

Some feel salmon is the healthiest food on the planet. If not it is near the top of the list.
It is however very important for a diet to lower triglycerides.

My wife loves it. I eat it.

The reason certain fish are better than others is because of the high levels of omega-3
fatty acids which have been shown in numerous trials to provide a wide array of health
benefits including heart health.

Omega-3 fatty acids also have been shown to reduce triglycerides significantly.

Cold water fish must be a part of your diet. Salmon, herring and blue fin tuna (not the
canned varieties) are very high in omega-3. Atlantic mackerel is next in line but may have
higher mercury levels. Cod, catfish, canned tuna and orange roughy have significantly lower
levels of omega-3.

You Simple Must Get Enough Omega-3

When putting together a good diet to lower triglycerides make sure you choose foods rich in
Omega-3 fatty acids.

Heart Health Note:

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for optimal heart health. High Omega-3
intakes are associated with …

 Lower triglycerides
 Lower blood pressure
 Reduced risk of coronary heart disease
 Lower heart attack rate
 Reduced incidence of sudden cardiac death
 Lower risk of heart failure

… to name a few. Below are a few links for your further study.

High potency Omega-3 supplement at a very good price.

Omega-3 and Triglycerides

Omega-3 and Coronary Heart Disease

Omega-3 and Heart Attack

Populations having diets rich in Omega-3 statistically have much lower incidence of heart
disease. This of course goes beyond our present concern of lowering triglycerides. Omega-3
does lower triglycerides significantly. But it does much more.

The short of it is this… If you want to have a good diet to lower triglycerides you simply
must get plenty of Omega-3. If you don’t want to eat salmon and tuna every day then
take a good fish oil supplement.

Just get plenty.

By the way... Do you have an opinion about omega-3?