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Triglycerides

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Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. Triglycerides also make up about 95 percent of all the dietary fat we eat. Triglycerides serve as the main way for our body to store energy long-term in the fat cells. High triglyceride levels in the blood are linked with a collection of disorders that increases the risk of developing diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

About this biomarker analysis

What will my triglycerides result show?

The results of this analysis will give you an awareness of your risk of heart disease. Higher levels of triglycerides are associated with a higher risk of heart disease.

Several factors can contribute to high triglyceride levels and the risk of cardiovascular disease. These include lack of exercise, being overweight, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney disease.

Your triglycerides result can be used to:

Check your triglycerides levels are within the healthy range - Keeping your triglyceride level in the normal range can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Check if you may be at risk of cardiovascular disease - If the analysis reports a high level for triglycerides, this is an indication that you are at risk of cardiovascular disease. Catching it early will help you track the impact of diet and exercise changes to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Having elevated triglycerides usually doesn’t cause any obvious symptoms. That means that health monitoring of your triglycerides gives a better insight into where to give greater focus in your lifestyle habits and the medical advice you seek out.

The MonitorYou triglycerides results report contains:

  • Your result for triglycerides
  • An indication if you fall within the desirable range
  • Key information to help you understand your result

An example of the report can be viewed here.

Note: The triglyceride analysis is not designed for diagnostic use. It is simply a tool to determine how your levels are tracking. There are various medical conditions and medications that can affect the result so a reading outside of the normal range should be investigated further by your doctor. The triglyceride analysis is only one risk factor for cardiovascular disease and should be used to assess risk in conjunction with other health results, personal medical history and lifestyle habits. If you suspect that you may have cardiovascular disease you should seek immediate medical attention.

For clinicians and consumers who want in depth detail about the dried blood spot technology and other clinical and quality aspects of our triglycerides analysis click here.

For more information please read our frequently asked questions.

About triglycerides

Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood. Most of the fat we eat is also in the form of triglycerides. After a meal, that fat makes its way into the bloodstream and is eventually used for energy or stored in fat cells. Eating more food than you need can cause the body to make more triglycerides and this can contribute to weight gain.

Triglycerides are found in the blood together with cholesterol and proteins. This complex is called a lipoprotein. Very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDLs), high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) and low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) are the most common lipoproteins and they all contain triglycerides.

High levels of triglycerides can be dangerous to your health and are linked to an elevated risk of heart disease. High triglycerides are often a sign of other conditions that can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. This group of conditions including too much fat around the abdomen, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high blood sugar and abnormal cholesterol levels is called metabolic syndrome.

Risk factors for high triglycerides include:

  • Lack of exercise
  • Being overweight
  • Smoking
  • Drinking too much alcohol
  • High blood pressure
  • Diabetes
  • Kidney disease
  • Thyroid disease

Because high triglycerides rarely cause obvious symptoms, it is important to have these checked regularly and monitored for changes over time – especially if you have several risk factors for heart disease.

Lifestyle changes are important in managing high triglycerides. Being more active, eating more fibre, cutting back on alcohol, not smoking and losing weight if you are overweight can all help with an elevated triglyceride reading.

What can affect my triglycerides result

Some factors can affect HbA1c levels or interfere with the triglycerides result.

Incorrect sample collection: using the at-home dried blood spot service is different to taking a fingerprick test with your doctor or taking a daily blood glucose measurement. It’s important to follow the instructions provided inside the blood collection kit and follow them step-by-step. Your results can be affected by incorrectly collecting your sample. And, if the spots are not large enough, you may be asked to repeat the sample collection. You’ll also need to pay close attention to the instructions on returning your sample to us.

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For information on medications and medical conditions that may change your triglycerides levels or interfere with your result, please see the Clinical Information section.

Different laboratories: blood results from different laboratories can and do vary. This is because different laboratories may use different methods of analysis. This should be considered if you’re comparing results to those from other labs. For more information please read our frequently asked questions.