Browse: Home / Obesity / How to lower your triglyceride levels

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Better Body Chemistry School
  • Book a health conversation
  • Speaking query
  • The “Big” Spoons
  • Donate
Header image

BBC

Small things can make a big difference to your health

advertisement

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • START HERE
  • Free Resources
    • 31 days to Better Body Chemistry
    • Willpower Report
    • Better Body Chemistry for Expecting Moms
    • The ups and downs of insulin resistance
    • Candy Floss Boards
  • Meet the Team
  • Library
  • Lucky dip
  • Better Body Chemistry TV
    • Video gallery for Expecting Moms
    • Video gallery for people with metabolic syndrome
    • Video gallery of how to survive flu season
  • Sound bites
  • Contact

How to lower your triglyceride levels

Posted by Dr Sandy on in Obesity | 84 Views | Leave a response

Share Button

Click to listen to the audio…

How to lower your triglyceride levels with the hoghead shuffle

high triglycerides

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.

enterocyte absorbing 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.

intestine packing chylomicron

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.

liver loading up VLDL particleHe 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

the liver must decide whether to store or distribute the fatWell 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.

the train tracks that distribute lipid droplets

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

insulin controlling train loading

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.

Share Button
Insulin activates intracellular transport of lipid droplets to release triglycerides from the liver.  Cell Biol. 2019 Vol. 218 No. 11 3697–3713. Mukesh Kumar, Srikant Ojha, Priyanka Rai, Alaumy Joshi, Siddhesh S. Kamat, and Roop Mallik. 

Further reading


sugar molecule holding a caculator

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

cholesterol is not part of the heart attack

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.

fat being wrapped for storage

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.

 

Want to discover more ways to create BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY ?

Posted in Obesity | Tagged chylomicrons, fasting, fat burning, fat storage, heart disease, high fats, high triglycerides, insulin, insulin resistance, kinesin, lipid drolets, liver, metabolic syndrome, triglycerides, VLDL

Sugar gremlins are REAL

Connect with us

facebook you tube pinterest 40 google plus 40 Linkedin

willpower report
 
Got a sugar gremlin ?yellow trick or treat your sugar gremlin
Read more.....
* indicates required
Close
  • Popular
  • Featured
  • Recent
  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16564 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16023 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15368 views / Posted
  • carbonated water bubbles fill you up

    Fizzing up the water flattens your appetite

    14073 views / Posted
  • a see food diet

    It might be time to try the TRF see food diet – it works

    11445 views / Posted
  • sun extracting cholesterol

    Make sure you have your “annual” check-up in the summer time

    / Dr Sandy
  • sending your kid to bootcamp won't stop childhood obesity

    Moving more won’t stop your kid from getting fat

    / Dr Sandy
  • cholesterol at the scene of the accident

    Bone cells are stiffening up your arteries not cholesterol

    / Dr Sandy
  • brain size the problem in ADHD

    Are kids with ADHD just acting according to their brain age

    / Dr Sandy
  • plastering the blood vessel with calcium

    Calcium supplements are building bones and breaking hearts

    / Dr Sandy
  • vitamin D conservation plan

    Deploy a vitamin D conservation plan this winter

    / Dr Sandy
  • killer cookies

    How to avoid wearing edible Christmas gifts on your hips

    / Dr Sandy
  • eye putttin gpressure on the stomach

    Maybe it’s time to invest in appetite suppressing glasses

    / Dr Sandy
  • pgc1alpha

    Mitochondria in insulin resistance

    / Dr Sandy
  • a low fat diet spiking blood fat levels

    The more saturated fat you eat, the lower your blood fat levels

    / Dr Sandy

RSS Recent posts

Dr Sandy Dr Sandy Evans, PhD

Located in Johannesburg, South Africa

Book an appointment with Spoonful of Science using SetMore
Disclaimer : The stories and articles are provided as a service. Dr Sandy's opinions are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your doctor or health care provider.
 
 

Connect with Dr Sandy

facebook 40
you tube 40
pinterest 40
google plus 40
linkedin 40
meetup 40
 

Categories

Featured posts

  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16564 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16023 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15368 views / Posted
 

©2011-2019 Spoonful of Science

Menu

  • Meet Dr Sandy
  • Disclosure/disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Comment policy
  • Contact
Redirect Stakk
Thank You

Beat your SUGAR CRAVINGS, using biology, NOT psychology

Download our FREE REPORT entitled, "How to get the Willpower you Need to Trump Sugar's Power"

  • Do you have a sugar gremlin ?
  • Discover the biology behind sugar gremlins
  • Learn about the 10 weapons you can use to TAME YOUR SUGAR GREMLIN

Get instant access