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How to lower your triglyceride levels with the hoghead shuffle
Fat can be burned or distributed & stored – where it ends up, depends on which train track, the lipid droplet is loaded onto to……..turns out, the hoghead can be bribed
To be diagnosed as being INSULIN RESISTANT i.e. to have metabolic syndrome, you need to be able to tick at least three of the following.
- High blood pressure
- High sugar
- Low HDL
- High waist circumference
- High triglycerides i.e. fats
High triglycerides are THERE.
In fact, they’re often one of the first hints of a metabolic problem.
They routinely tested and dutifully NOTED.
But never acted upon…………
There is no triglyceride “fix”
The reason, right now, there are no medications, which “fix” the problem.
NOTE : This is an area of active research, with quite a few candidates, currently being tested, so the situation might change in the near furture.
There are meds, to
- Lower sugar
- Lower blood pressure
- Lower LDL.
There is no low HDL “fix” either
If you’re paying attention, high LDL is not officially a problem of metabolic syndrome, low HDL, is the problem, but there are not meds to “fix” the low HDL, so……………… compelled to “fix” something, fixing high LDL, is better, than doing nothing.
Bring on that statin !
So what is the story with triglycerides ?
Obsessing over triglyceride biology
A group of researchers based in India, have been obsessing about the elevated triglycerides story, for years. And, bit by bit, they have pieced together, what’s going on…..
Their insights, offer a relatively easy to implement, lifestyle solution, to high triglycerides.
It’s NOT eat less fat………
I know, this is somewhat counter intuitive. Logic says, if you eat less fat, you will have less fat floating through the circulation i.e. lower triglycerides, but biology, doesn’t ALWAYS, follow human logic.
Putting away the groceries
When you tuck into a meal, whether it be steak & chips or pizza, the first priority, is to put away the groceries.
Enterocytes, process the groceries, but it is insulin’s job, to pack them away.
The feeding frenzy, brings insulin out.
He scuttles around, making arrangement to get glucose gates up, so that sugar can be squirreled away, for later use.
But, sugar is not the only nutrient, insulin PUTS AWAY. Arrangements are made for iron, magnesium, sodium, amino acids……….and fats.
The primary destination for those fats, are the fat cells (adipose tissue).
Fat processing
Unfortunately, popping a dollop of fat, into the circulation, is NOT an option.
Fats and water, DON’T MIX.
So the fats NEED to be processed.
The intestine, takes the lead on this – packaging the fats, into specialized structures, called chylomicrons, which are dropped into the lymphatic system, from here, they are distributed, round the body.
The process takes hours – so while glucose levels peak, within an hour or so, of a meal, the fats are reaching their peak, around 5 hours after the meal.
The liver, backs up, the intestine.
He packages them, into VLDL (very low density lipoproteins) particles and then ships them out, dropping them directly into the circulation.
Storing is not always appropriate
Of course, packaging and storing fats, is only appropriate, when you’ve just eaten. If it’s been a few hours, since a grocery delivery, the “right” thing to do, would be to hold onto those fats.
They’re NEEDED for fuel.
NOTE : A hungry brain is a nightmare and a liability, feeding the brain, is the liver’s number one priority.
So how does the liver know, what to do ?
Decisions, decisions, decisions
Well all the fat, whether it be from the diet, home made or shipped in from fat cells, passes through the liver cells, it ends up being stored, in special fat cupboards, referred to as lipid droplets.
The lipid droplets are moved across liver cells, on tiny little “trains”.
The presence or absence of insulin, determines, where the lipid droplet are shipped to.
Choosing the right track
When insulin is around, the lipid droplets, travel on kinesin-1, on the smooth endoplasmic reticulum line. This line drops them off at the edge of the cell, where it is easy to process them for export.
When insulin is NOT around, the lipid droplets, travel on the mitochondrial line. This line, ships the lipid droplets, to the cell’s power stations. At the power station, the fats can be burned directly, for energy, or, split up, into ketones.
The resulting ketones are then shipped out, to provide fuel for “hungry” body cells.
HUNGRY CELLS !
This line, only runs, when there has been no fresh deliveries, for several hours i.e. the body is in a fasting state.
The wrong side of the track
Hang on a minute ! When you are insulin resistant, it’s hard, to get into this fasting state, because, thanks to the bad body chemistry, that is happening.
Insulin levels are high : MORNING, NOON and NIGHT !
This means…………
Lipid droplets, NEVER swing past the mitochondria.
They’re always riding the smooth endoplasmic reticulum line.
VLDL production and secretion – NEVER CEASES. And as a consequence, triglyceride levels, RUN HIGH !
The fats are packed BADLY
An additional problem, of the non stop, VLDL production, is that the VLDL particles that are produced, are smaller / less mature, because, it’s hard to make them big and fluffy, chock full of triglycerides, if production happens 24/7.
Small dense VLDL particles, morph into small dense LDL particles……
And small dense LDL particles are THE RISK, in cardiovascular disease.
Time to “fix” the triglyceride problem
So the “fix” for high triglycerides, is to…
REIN IN INSULIN.
Dropping the insulin levels, will stop insulin from commissioning ARF-1, to keep loading the lipid droplets onto kinesin-1. And this will drop those triglycerides, back into the normal range.
Further reading
How do you know if you’re INSULIN RESISTANT ?
You don’t need to undergo fancy expensive tests to know your insulin resistance status – your TyG number is a good proxy and it can be calculated from routine lab work
Putting high cholesterol in perspective
High cholesterol is seen as the kiss of death….. If your LDL level has crept up, a little – IT MUST BE BROUGHT DOWN. Well maybe, maybe not.
Is a shortage of bubble wrap causing the trouble in obesity ?
Each droplet of fat, is carefully wrapped in bubble wrap so that the high energy fat molecules don’t cause a fire, but in obesity adipose tissue is on fire.