Triglycerides: the forgotten lipid: abnormally high levels of triglycerides are also associated with increased risk of heart attack or stroke.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE)

In discussions about the need to lower blood lipid levels, triglycerides get short shrift. By now, most people have heard of LDL and HDL cholesterol--cousins of triglycerides--but as many as two-thirds of adults are unaware that their triglyceride level is another number they should know.

Triglycerides are the body's main energy storage molecules. They are necessary for life. We get them from foods and we store them in fat tissue. Although triglycerides do not accumulate in arteries like cholesterol does, abnormally high levels of triglycerides are also associated with an increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke in both men and women, and particularly in women.

HIGH TRIGLYCERIDE LEVELS COMMON IN THE U.S. Triglyceride levels under 150 mg/dL are considered normal. Sadly, normal levels may not be the norm, however. A 2009 report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that high triglyceride levels are common in this country. Researchers who testea 5,610 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys discovered that 33.1 percent had triglyceride levels over 150 mg/dL, (17.9 percent); 1 in 5 had levels of 200 mg/dL or higher, 1.7 percent had levels of 500 mg/dL or higher and 0.4 percent had levels of 1,000 mg/dL--to as high as 3,780 mg/dL. The percentage of patients in each category may actually be higher, since some were taking medications known to lower triglycerides.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

LOWERING TRIGLYCERIDE ...