Triglycerides are the chemical storage form of fat in food and in your body. The major role of triglycerides is to provide your body with energy when your intake of calories falls too low. If you have too many triglycerides in your blood, a condition called hypertriglyceridemia, your risk of coronary heart disease increases. An excessive intake of sugar can cause high triglycerides.
Physiology
When you eat, your body converts calories into energy that it needs to carry out its functions. If you consume more calories than you need, the calories are converted to triglycerides and stored in your adipose tissue, or fat cells. Between meals, hormone regulation allows the release of triglycerides from your fat cells. These triglycerides provide your body with energy until you can eat again.
While this process helps you survive, if regularly consume too many calories, the level of triglycerides in your body can increase to a dangerous level.
Sugar and Triglycerides
Consuming foods that are high in simple sugars can increase your triglyceride levels significantly. Simple sugars provide you with a high amount of calories, without offering any nutritional value. If you regularly eat foods that are high in sugar or drink sugar-laden beverages, you can easily surpass your calorie needs, causing your triglycerides to increase. A single can of soda, for example, offers 40g of sugar, which provides you with 160 calories.
Your sugar intake should comprise no more than 8 percent of your calorie intake. If you are following a 2,000 calorie diet, you should consume less than 40g of sugar per day.
Tips to Reduce Sugar
Replace soda and fruit drinks with calorie-free beverages. While water is preferable, it may help to make the transition gradually by switching to diet or sugar-free versions of your favorite beverages initially. Avoid excessive intake of desserts, candy and sugary cereals. Try not to add sugar to foods or your coffee. Choose sugar-free condiments, like syrup, and sugar-free gums. Read food labels and avoid foods that contain sucrose, glucose, fructose, corn syrup, honey, maltose and high fructose corn syrup in the ingredient list.
Considerations
Refined carbohydrates, like white breads and white pasta, act like sugar in your body. While it may seem as though they are nutritionally superior to things like cookies and cakes, these foods can contain just as much sugar and can raise your triglyceride levels just as significantly. Instead of refined carbohydrates, choose whole grain varieties.
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