When it comes to a healthy heart, blood pressure and blood cholesterol numbers usually take center stage. But did you know that triglycerides also matter?
When you eat, the energy (or calories) you get from food that aren’t immediately used by your body are converted into triglycerides (blood fats, or lipids) and stored in your fat cells. In between meals, certain hormones help shuttle triglycerides out of your fat cells to be used to for energy by the body.
Having high triglycerides can wreak havoc with your arteries and make it tough for blood to flow through them to get to your heart and brain. This increases your risk for a heart attack, stroke, and heart disease.
Although genes play a role in determining your triglyceride level, being overweight and/or consuming a less than healthful diet are also factors. Having diabetes, hypothyroidism, and kidney or liver disease can also raise triglycerides to unhealthy levels.
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