Lowering triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol starts with making diet and lifestyle improvements, if needed. Lifestyle changes can include quitting smoking if you’re a smoker, increasing your physical activity if you’re inactive, and losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight. Diet changes may include limiting saturated fats (like butter, lard, and other animal fats), substituting heart-healthy plant fats (like olive oil), and adding healthier calories from vegetables, fruits, and foods rich in cholesterol-lowering fiber. Depending on whether these strategies will work for you, supplements or medications may also need to be part of your treatment plan.
How to Lower Triglycerides
Your doctor will determine if you need treatment to lowering triglycerides by talking with you about your current diet and lifestyle, and evaluating your triglyceride level, your LDL cholesterol level, and your potential risk factors for coronary heart disease.
You have metabolic syndrome. This condition includes a combination of abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure. If you have metabolic syndrome and tried diet and lifestyle changes for three months without success, triglyceride-lowering medications may be needed.Previous medication lowered your total cholesterol but not your triglycerides. If your cholesterol is well controlled, but your triglyceride level is still too high, at or above 200 mg/dL, triglyceride-lowering medications may help.You have very high triglycerides. If your triglyceride level is at or higher than 500 mg/dL, you may need to start medications to lower triglycerides even before reaching lower cholesterol levels.
Supplements and Medications to Lower Triglycerides
Some diabetes medications, Actos (pioglitazone), for example, will also lower triglycerides, says Shurmur. However, this drug may cause or worsen congestive heart failure, warns the FDA. The best way to check for high triglycerides is to have your doctor do a lipid profile blood test. If you are over age 20, you should have your lipid profile checked at least every five years, and more frequently if you have other risk factors like a family history of heart disease. The sooner you find out about your cholesterol and triglyceride levels, the sooner you can start to get them under control and lowering your risk for coronary heart disease.
