Raised Triglycerides

[Tmmadhatter]

Hi All
I have popped in and out of here over the years and picked up so many pieces of great advice. About a year ago I set off on my latest quest which was a low carb approach, this bore fruit and resulted in me shedding two stones and a couple of trouser sizes. Since then I have moved house and really took my eye off the ball. I have just been advised that my Triglyceride levels are through the roof as a result. I was going to embark on the low carb approach but after receiving this information I am wondering if I need to take a low carb and low fat approach, would this be safe as I understood when doing low carb the body depended on fats for energy? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Madhatter

 

[Martin.A]

If you go low carb (as I've done since my diagnosis) there's no need to go low fat as well, as long as the focus is on unsaturated fats. Oily fish and nuts are good sources. Saturated fat is the 'bad' fat and the RDA is 30g per day for men, which I always try and stay under, and 20g for women. Meat and dairy are the main sources. By contrast I average 80-90g of unsaturated fat per day.

There's some really good information about triglycerides, and how to lower them, on here:-

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a type of blood fat and our main source of energy. Find out more about what triglycerides are, how they affect heart health, and how to lower them to a healthy level.

www.heartuk.org.uk

 

[Sharron1]

If you go low carb (as I've done since my diagnosis) there's no need to go low fat as well, as long as the focus is on unsaturated fats. Oily fish and nuts are good sources. Saturated fat is the 'bad' fat and the RDA is 30g per day for men, which I always try and stay under, and 20g for women. Meat and dairy are the main sources. By contrast I average 80-90g of unsaturated fat per day.

There's some really good information about triglycerides, and how to lower them, on here:-

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a type of blood fat and our main source of energy. Find out more about what triglycerides are, how they affect heart health, and how to lower them to a healthy level.

www.heartuk.org.uk

I wonder if you could clear up my confusion re nuts and saturated fats. I eat almonds and as per usual I have a look at the nutritional label and it tells me almonds contain saturated fats. I then continued on this quest and read that avocado contains saturated fats. While I know nuts and almonds contain fats and are very calorific. I thought saturated fats were only only in processed foods. I then guessed that there are some ok saturated fats as monounsaturates and polyunsaturates and bad saturated fats. As you can tell I am so confused . Help.

 

[Martin.A]

I wonder if you could clear up my confusion re nuts and saturated fats. I eat almonds and as per usual I have a look at the nutritional label and it tells me almonds contain saturated fats. I then continued on this quest and read that avocado contains saturated fats. While I know nuts and almonds contain fats and are very calorific. I thought saturated fats were only only in processed foods. I then guessed that there are some ok saturated fats as monounsaturates and polyunsaturates and bad saturated fats. As you can tell I am so confused . Help.

Nuts not only contain fats they are actually mostly fat, but it's generally around 90% unsaturated - the 'good' fat. For example, 100g of walnuts contains around 70g of fat, but only around 7g of that is saturated. Likewise 100g of dry roasted peanuts, one of my regular snack options, contains just under 50g of fat or which only around 4g is saturated. So if you eat nuts you're consuming mostly the 'good' unsaturated fats (poly- and mono-).

The NHS recommends that if we want to reduce our risk of heart disease it's best to reduce our overall fat intake and swap saturated fats for unsaturated fats. Most saturated fats come from animal sources.

Does that help?

 

[rebrascora]

Personally, I don't hold with the NHS advice on fat just as I don't agree with their advice on diet ie the Eatwell plate. I don't see saturated fat as bad and I personally eat predominantly saturated fats from natural sources like dairy, cheese and meat as well as olives and avocado and nuts, but I try to avoid the highly processed seed oils. I don't think it is helpful to label fats good or bad and it is my understanding that an increase in Trigycerides is more likely to stem from increased processed carbs rather than from fat (of any sort).

@Tmmadhatter Hopefully going back to your low carb way of eating and normal fat, rather than low fat, should rebalance things in due course. Have you put on the weight you previously lost?

I always like to know numbers for my own results rather than discriptives like high, low or "through the roof" in this case, which can be quite subjective! In your situation I would be wanting all my lipid values and what they were at diagnosis and what they were when were doing well and what they are now, and then sit down and do a bit of research and make some decisions based on what feels right to you.

 

[silentsquirrel]

I wonder if you could clear up my confusion re nuts and saturated fats. I eat almonds and as per usual I have a look at the nutritional label and it tells me almonds contain saturated fats. I then continued on this quest and read that avocado contains saturated fats. While I know nuts and almonds contain fats and are very calorific. I thought saturated fats were only only in processed foods. I then guessed that there are some ok saturated fats as monounsaturates and polyunsaturates and bad saturated fats. As you can tell I am so confused . Help.

Maybe you were thinking of trans fats?

 

[Martin.A]

Personally, I don't hold with the NHS advice on fat

I know you don't, and you're not alone, but the problem is that there are other (reputable) organisations posting the self same advice, The British Heart Foundation for example "Too much bad (saturated) fat in your diet can increase your risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases. Replacing some of them with healthy (unsaturated) fat will keep your heart healthy and manage your weight" or the cholesterol charity Heart UK "Cut down on saturated fats and replace these with unsaturated fats such as oily fish". So it doesn't seem to matter where you look, you get the same message.

 

[Martin.A]

Maybe you were thinking of trans fats?

Now they really are bad fats and are even banned in some countries. The WHO has apparently set a goal to make the world free from industrially-produced trans fat.

 

[rebrascora]

I know you don't, and you're not alone, but the problem is that there are other (reputable) organisations posting the self same advice, The British Heart Foundation for example "Too much bad (saturated) fat in your diet can increase your risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases. Replacing some of them with healthy (unsaturated) fat will keep your heart healthy and manage your weight" or the cholesterol charity Heart UK "Cut down on saturated fats and replace these with unsaturated fats such as oily fish". So it doesn't seem to matter where you look, you get the same message.

That argument doesn't hold water for me I am afraid because the situation is no different to Diabetes UK giving the same dietary advice as the NHS.... which we know doesn't work for many type 2 diabetics. These charities are hand in hand with the NHS, so their advice is likely to be be the same. Doesn't prove either one is right!

 

[Sharron1]

Nuts not only contain fats they are actually mostly fat, but it's generally around 90% unsaturated - the 'good' fat. For example, 100g of walnuts contains around 70g of fat, but only around 7g of that is saturated. Likewise 100g of dry roasted peanuts, one of my regular snack options, contains just under 50g of fat or which only around 4g is saturated. So if you eat nuts you're consuming mostly the 'good' unsaturated fats (poly- and mono-).

The NHS recommends that if we want to reduce our risk of heart disease it's best to reduce our overall fat intake and swap saturated fats for unsaturated fats. Most saturated fats come from animal sources.

Does that help?

Yes, thank you. Should have realised the clue was polyUNsaturated and monoUNsaturated...

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I had a feeling that low carb diets were associated with a reduction in triglyceride levels (I’m not sure where I read it, but I think you need a carb component - glycerol, synthesized from excess glucose - to be the ‘backbone’ of a triglyceride molecule).

I found this meta analysis of low carb diet RCTs which found that low carb generally reduced trigs.

“12 randomized studies were included in the final analysis, which showed that a low-carbohydrate diet was associated with a decrease in triglyceride levels“

Though results for heart disease risk as a whole were mixed and inconsistent.

The effects of low-carbohydrate diets on cardiovascular risk factors: A meta-analysis - PubMed

This meta-analysis confirms that low-carbohydrate diets have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk factors but that the long-term effects on cardiovascular risk factors require further research.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov