High Triglycerides and Type-2 Diabetes

abdominal obesity blood glucose blood type cholesterol coronary artery disease diet fat fatty liver fructose glucose glycogen hdl heart disease high blood pressure high-fructose corn syrup insulin resistance lifestyle changes metabolic syndrome plaque triglycerides type-2 diabetes vldl May 18, 2024

A notebook with "Triglycerides" written on it and below this is a list of triglyceride levels

If you’re like most people, you’ve heard your doctor mention “triglycerides” when discussing your blood work.

But what exactly are triglycerides, and how do they relate to your health?

This article will answer these questions, and more:

What are triglycerides?
Relation between high triglycerides and heart disease
Role of blood type
Causes of high triglycerides
Fructose overconsumption and type-2 diabetes

Often, you’ll be tested not just for your triglyceride levels, but also for your total cholesterol and VLDL. Keep reading to see how they’re all connected.

What are triglycerides?

Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in your body.¹

Your body turns the calories you eat but don’t need right away into triglycerides, which get stored in your fat cells. Then, when your body needs energy, your fat cells release the triglycerides.¹

There are also some dietary sources of triglycerides, including butter and certain oils.¹

Proteins called very-low-density lipoproteins — or VLDL for short — transport triglycerides through your bloodstream and into your tissues, where they can be used for energy.^1,2

Relation between high triglycerides and heart disease

Heart disease refers to a group of conditions affecting the structure and function of your heart.²

But most often, when people talk about heart disease, they mean coronary artery disease (CAD).²

CAD results from a buildup of plaque in your arteries. This plaque is a mix of substances normally found in your blood, including calcium, fat, and cholesterol.²

Cholesterol tends to build up in your body when your triglyceride levels are high. This means that having high triglycerides can increase your risk of plaque formation and heart disease.^3,4

Role of blood type

You can get heart disease regardless of your blood type. When you’re Type O or B though, you’re likely to have carbohydrate intolerance. Carbohydrate intolerance tends to promote high triglycerides and weight gain in people with blood types O and B.⁵

What’s more, a low-fat, high-carb diet often results in metabolic syndrome for Types O and B. Metabolic syndrome is a group of conditions that makes you more prone to heart disease and other health issues. One of the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome is high triglycerides, along with low HDL (“good” cholesterol), increased abdominal fat, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar.⁶

Causes of high triglycerides

Your genes, existing health problems, and lifestyle can all contribute to raising your triglycerides.

If your family has a history of high triglycerides, then you’ll be prone to this condition.⁷

Your triglycerides are also more likely to be high if you’re of South Asian descent.⁷

Having liver, kidney, or thyroid disease can increase your triglycerides as well. So can having uncontrolled diabetes or inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. HIV infection can make your triglycerides high too.⁷

In addition, hormones, steroids, diuretics, anti-HIV drugs, and certain other medications can lead to high triglycerides.⁷

If you're a woman, your triglycerides can go up during pregnancy or menopause.⁷

As for lifestyle, your triglycerides can increase if you drink too much alcohol, smoke, or are physically inactive.⁷

And of course, your diet plays a major role. As we’ve already mentioned, a high-carb diet can lead to elevated triglycerides in people with blood types O and B.^5,7

In particular, a diet high in fructose has been shown to elevate triglyceride levels. Fructose is a simple sugar that naturally occurs in fruits. It’s also an ingredient in high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Consuming too much fructose is especially easy because HFCS is widely used in packaged and processed foods today.^8,9

Your liver processes most of the fructose that enters your body. But excessive fructose intake promotes fatty acid production in your liver. In turn, this fatty acid synthesis makes your body produce and release more VLDL. What’s more, too much fructose raises your levels of a protein called apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB). ApoB assembles triglycerides into VLDL, enhancing triglyceride transport throughout your body.^10,11

Fructose overconsumption and type-2 diabetes

In your liver, fructose gets converted into glucose, lactose, and glycogen. Glucose, a simple sugar, is your body’s main source of energy. Meanwhile, glycogen is the stored form of glucose.^10,12

But your liver can only store glycogen in limited amounts. Upon reaching its full capacity for glycogen storage, your liver turns any leftover fructose into fat. A fatty liver, in turn, causes insulin resistance. Over time, insulin resistance can lead to a diagnosis of type-2 diabetes (T2D).^10,13,14

Conclusion

Having high triglycerides raises your risk of heart disease. Your triglycerides can go up because of your genes or other health problems. More importantly, your lifestyle — especially consuming too much fructose — can raise your triglycerides.

A constantly high fructose intake drives fat production in your liver. This situation leads not just to elevated triglyceride levels, but also to insulin resistance. Eventually, insulin resistance can result in T2D. This is why high triglyceride levels are common among T2D patients.

Eliminating fructose from your diet will help you lower your triglycerides, manage (or avoid) T2D, and much more. It’s not a walk in the park though — after all, numerous foods in the market today contain HFCS, and even so-called health foods often substitute fructose for other sugars. Luckily for you, we’ve done the hard part, so you can start your fructose-free journey right away. All it takes is a click — sign up for the Diabetes Diet Solution now.