Triglycerides are a form of lipids, which are the molecules found in fats and oils. Along with cholesterol levels, triglycerides in the blood are an important indicator of cardiovascular health. High triglyceride levels (along with high levels of cholesterol) can indicate that a patient is at a greater risk for atherosclerosis and, consequently, a heart attack or a stroke. However, there are different systems for measuring these triglyceride levels. The two most common units are milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) and millimoles per liter (mmol/l).
Step 1
Convert milligrams to millimoles. A mole is a weight that is used to describe many molecules of the same compound. In order to convert from milligrams to millimoles (thousandths of a mole), divide by the molar weight of triglycerides (886).
Step 2
Convert deciliters to liters. There are ten deciliters (dl) in one liter (l), which means that you need to take your result from step one and multiply it by 10.
Step 3
If you want to do the reverse conversion, changing mg/dl into mmol/l, multiply your mmol/l result by 88.6.
