High levels of triglycerides, a fat in your blood, increase your heart disease risk even if your cholesterol levels are normal, reported the Journal of Nutrition. They also cause diabetes, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Men's triglyceride levels should be between 100 and 120mg per dL, and women's should be lower, reported Controlling Cholesterol. Fortunately, changes in diet often significantly reduce triglyceride levels.
Fish Diets
According to "The New Pritikin Program," populations that eat a lot of food loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, including the Eskimos of Greenland, have very low triglyceride levels, and you can reduce your high triglyceride levels if you eat a diet with rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
Numerous kinds of cold-water fish are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, including halibut, herring, mackerel, sardines, salmon, tuna and trout. The American Heart Association recommends a diet that includes two meals featuring cold-water fish each week. It also recommends that you include other foods with omega-3 fatty acids in your diet every day, including dark leafy green vegetables, legumes, soy products and walnuts.
Heart-Healthy Diets
Four diets that lower cholesterol, blood pressure and heart attack and stroke risks also reduced high triglyceride levels, according to "Translating Good Food Into Better Diets," a Harvard University newsletter. All four diets featured beans, fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables while limiting saturated fat, sodium and sweets.
The diets were DASH (the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension), Mediterranean, OmniHeart and Portfolio. The DASH and Mediterranean diets are available in popular books. The DASH plan recommends more low-fat dairy foods than the other three, while the Mediterranean plan includes a lot of eggs, fish and poultry. The OmniHeart plan is the DASH plan with more protein and fewer carbohydrates. The Portfolio plan emphasizes foods with soluble fiber, including barley, eggplant, oats, okra and psyllium.
Calorie-Reduction Diets
Low-calorie diets with low levels of saturated fat and cholesterol reduced high triglyceride levels in overweight people, according to the Feb. 26, 2009, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute investigated whether 811 people would lose weight by cutting calories even if the proportion of fat or protein or carbohydrates they ate was high. The amount of calories cut varied. The study concluded that each diet cut weight and also reduced triglycerides and other heart disease risk factors.
Diet No. 1 was 65 percent carbohydrates, 20 percent fat, 15 percent protein. Diet No. 2 was 55 percent carbs, 25 percent protein, 20 percent fat. Diet No. 3 was 45 percent carbs, 40 percent fat, 15 percent protein. Diet No. 4 was 40 percent fat, 35 percent carbohydrates, 25 percent protein.
References
- United States Department of Agriculture: "Food and Nutrition Research Briefs"
- "Controlling Cholesterol;" Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper; 1989
- "The New Pritikin Program;" Robert Pritikin; 1990
- University of Massachusetts Medical School: "What You Can Do To Lower Your Triglycerides?"
- The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide: "Translating Good Food Into Better Diets"
