Triglycerides, a type of fat in your bloodstream, affect your heart health. Your thyroid helps control the way you metabolize fat. If your thyroid metabolizes fat slowly, you will likely gain weight and store excess triglycerides. High levels of triglycerides put you at risk for heart attacks and strokes. If your thyroid burns fat rapidly, your weight and triglyceride levels may drop. Very low triglyceride levels can also prove unhealthy.
Healthy Triglyceride Levels
Healthy triglycerides measure 150mg/dl--milligrams per deciliter of blood--or less. The American Heart Association in April 2011 lowered its recommendation for triglycerides levels to 100mg/dl or less. Levels above 200mg/dl put you at high risk of heart attack or stroke and levels above 500mg/dl put you at very high risk. Triglycerides inhabit your fat cells. Hypothyroidism, under-active thyroid, abets fat cell growth, making it easier for triglycerides to accumulate in your bloodstream. Hyperthyroidism, overactive thyroid, makes it harder. But untreated hyperthyroidism can also lead to heart problems, including including rapid heartbeat, congestive heart failure and atrial fibrilliation, a heart rhythm disorder.
Hypothyroidism
An underactive thyroid means your thyroid doesn't produce enough of a hormone called thyroxine. You can take a synthetic thyroid hormone to return your thyroid to proper function. You will likely shed some pounds without effort, but you may need to follow a low-fat, low-sugar diet to reach your ideal weight and maintain healthy triglyceride and cholesterol levels. You should also perform at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week.
Hyperthyroidism
Heart problems associated with hyperthyroidism usually reverse themselves when you get your thyroid levels under control. You will also regain lost weight and begin creating more triglycerides. Treatment for hyperthyroidism includes anti-thyroid drugs and radioactive iodine. Anti-thyroid drugs help your thyroid gland stop producing thyroxine. You may need to take such medications for a year or more. You take radioactive iodine once. It shrinks your thyroid gland and slows thyroid function. When your thyroid shrinks, you may need to take synthetic thyroid medication. You can also opt for surgical removal of your thyroid, a procedure that would also require you to take synthetic hormones.
Considerations
Correcting thyroid disorders improves the health of your heart and helps bring your triglycerides to normal levels. To maintain heart-friendly triglyceride levels, follow a diet that includes up to 16mg to 22mg of saturated fat, found mostly in animal protein, and up to 2g of trans fat, found mostly in margarine and shortening. Limit calories from foods with added sugar to 5 to 15 percent of your daily total. Choose lean sources of protein and low-fat or non-fat dairy. Avoid commercial baked goods and deep-fried foods. Limit consumption of regular soda and other sugary drinks to about 36 oz. a week. Follow the lower limits for saturated fat and sugar to reduce triglycerides and the higher limits to maintain desired triglyceride levels.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Hypothyroidism; June 12, 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Hyperthyroidism; Dec. 4, 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Healthy diet: End the guesswork with these nutrition guidelines; February 2011
- American Heart Association; Dietary, lifestyle changes can significantly reduce triglycerides; April 18, 2011
- MedlinePlus; Triglyceride level; May 23, 2010
- University of California San Francisco Medical Center; Cholesterol Content of Foods; Feb. 2, 2011
