High triglycerides

[SpirallingMum]

I took part in a research program for the NHS today - Our Future Health. They take some bloods and measurements, ask some questions and use the information for research. It's not supposed to be used as a personal health check, but the nurse doing the tests gave me the results / measurements as she was recording them.

All good (weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, pulse, etc.) but she said that my triglycerides were very high (7.2 mmol/L) and asked if I'd just eaten something very fatty and sugary. I hadn't really - breakfast was 2+ hours before and was yoghurt, half a banana and a piece of toast with butter and honey.

She said to Google triglycerides and it looks like 7.2 is extremely high but I'm not sure whether I need to do anything about it. I don't seem to fit any of the risk groups - slim, vegetarian, relatively active, don't smoke, light drinker. I probably eat too much sugar and choose full fat dairy over low fat but I'm not eating vast amounts of these things.

Sorry, rambling. But does anyone know whether I need to do anything?

YES.
I have the same issue, although I was worse - I had a referral to a specialist at a hospital as it can cause pancreatitis which can be lethal.

You should try really hard to avoid one-off large fatty or sugary meals like take away curries which can cause your triglycerides level to spike which could cause you to feel really unwell.

You can be otherwise apparently perfectly healthy so it is easy to ignore. But you shouldn’t.

Also you should book yourself a blood test annually to check your triglyceride levels and you should do this as a fasting blood test so a recent meal won’t impact the results.

Ohhh, OK. I'm guessing it's not urgent and can wait until I'm next seeing GP in a month or two?

My LDL cholesterol was zero and Google suggests that's not ideal either...

I would speak with your GP first, who may well retest you. My first triglyceride test was high, they booked me in for another test 2 weeks later and it was even higher!

Like you, I eat very little saturated fat, follow a Mediterranean diet, normal weight, exercise everyday and at a loss as to what I can do to reduce it . My cholesterol was very high too, (3 years ago it was all normal) so I accepted statins and they’ve referred me to a specialist to see what’s going on, however this is months away yet.

What were the rest of your cholesterol results? HDL? Ratio?

Total cholesterol: 4.79
HDL: 1.99
Triglycerides: 7.2
LDL: 0.0

Results I was given above @turnipsandtiaras

@Nectarinesarenice Thanks, yes I'll mention it to my GP when I next see her.
My total cholesterol was normal/good and LDL (bad cholesterol I think) was zero! Seems a bit odd. I don't fit the profile for cholesterol issues (although I could eat less sugar/carbs and exercise more) and no family history of it that I know of, but do have some as yet undiagnosed health issues.

It’s weird isn’t it? I do know my GP had referred me as in their words I also don’t fit the usual profile, so it will be interesting to see what they say.

Interesting results!

So in the NHS healthcheck we don't usually test for triglycerides we just check total cholesterol, HDL and then calculate ratio. Which on that basis you would have been really good and no worries. Makes me wonder how many we are reassuring but actually their triglycerides are high!

I’m confused how you have high triglycerides but normal cholesterol? Is there normally a cause/reason?

I volunteered for this and had the tests 2 weeks ago. I also had unusual for me blood results - Total cholesterol 7.35, HDL 2.59, Triglycerides 1.03 she just put a dash in LDL box. Total cholesterol has always been 5 to 5.5 for me in the past. I'm thin, eat mainly fruit and veg and exercise every day. Perhaps they've got dodgy blood monitoring machines!

Will be interesting to see what GP says! I do eat full fat dairy, but not huge amounts of it. I’ll update when I’ve seen GP but won’t be for a while as I don’t think it’s urgent and I have an HRT review booked in a few weeks time…

I have been on statins for a year which have brought my cholesterol down to normal levels. My triglycerides were still too high at my last blood test, and when I had my medication review, the surgery pharmacist told me that high triglycerides are caused by excess carbs (including all sugars and alcohol) being stored as fat cells by the body if you ingest more than is needed for the energy you expend. Not due to fats/dairy.

Thanks @StrugglingwithIvanhoe but I don’t think I can be eating more of anything than I need for energy - I’m actually struggling to maintain a healthy weight with BMI right at the bottom of healthy range.

Just to update, GP re-ran the tests and everything has come back well within normal range! She said she's encountered lots of 'wildly inaccurate' results from Our Future Health - such a shame that this is putting extra pressure on GPs - I thought I was doing my bit to help!!

Brilliant news - bet that was a relief!

DH and I did OFH as well, coming out with cholesterol results that were completely different from what we normally get.

It seems to have been a pretty general problem.

i wonder if the machines are a bit off. My good cholesterol was .83 (needs to be 1.2!) and my triglycerides were 2.60 (ideal is 2.3). If had fatty lamb burger a 1.5hrs before. Also had a bad tooth infection for a couple of weeks so wonder if this affects the results. 😫