Triglycerides in your blood: what they mean and how to lower them

Lowering triglycerides often works faster than you would expect. They respond strongly to fast carbs and alcohol, so less sugar, less drink and a bit more movement can visibly drop your value within weeks. One thing up front: you test triglycerides while fasted, because they shoot up after a meal.

Triglycerides are the main fats in your blood. They are how your body stores and ships energy around, packaged in particles called VLDL.

A high value is therefore mostly a signal about your energy balance and your diet. Good news for you as an athlete: it is one of the most steerable blood values out there.

What is a normal triglyceride value?

A normal triglyceride value sits below 1.7 mmol/l when fasted. Between 1.7 and 2.3 mmol/l counts as mildly elevated, and above 2.3 mmol/l as clearly elevated. These are general reference points: you always read them alongside your LDL, your HDL and your full profile.

The table below gives commonly used reference values, measured in a fasted state. They are not hard cut-offs, but orientation points.

One reading says less than a trend. Triglycerides swing quite a lot from day to day, so a single spike after a party weekend need not mean much.

Want to know how this number fits the bigger picture? Our guide on cholesterol blood values lays out every fraction side by side.

What raises your triglycerides?

Your triglycerides rise mostly from an excess of fast carbs, alcohol and calories. Sugars and drink push your liver to make extra fat through a process called de novo lipogenesis. So a diet full of soft drinks and wine can strongly drive up your triglycerides, even if you eat little fat.

Research by Parks and Hellerstein showed this mechanism nicely. A low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet sharply raised the production of VLDL triglycerides in the liver, without any rise in fat intake.

Alcohol works in a similar way. Your liver prioritises breaking down alcohol, which leaves more building blocks to turn into fat.

Excess weight, little movement and insulin resistance can also push your value up. A high triglyceride value therefore often goes hand in hand with a low HDL.

According to the Hartstichting, elevated triglycerides belong to an unfavourable pattern of blood fats linked to cardiovascular disease. So it is a useful signal about your lifestyle, not just an isolated number.

How do you lower your triglycerides?

You lower your triglycerides fastest by cutting sugar and alcohol, moving more and losing some weight if that applies. The nice part is that triglycerides respond rapidly: for some people the value already drops noticeably within a few weeks of such changes.

Fewer fast carbs often has the biggest effect. Cut or limit soft drinks, sweets and white-flour products, and you remove the largest lever right away.

Cutting alcohol often works surprisingly powerfully. People who drink a lot and take a break sometimes see their triglycerides fall sharply within weeks.

Exercise helps on several fronts. Regular cardio improves your fat burning and your insulin sensitivity, both of which can shift your triglycerides favourably.

Omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish can lower elevated triglycerides further. A science advisory by Skulas-Ray and the American Heart Association describes this triglyceride-lowering effect of EPA and DHA. You can have your omega-3 index measured to see where you stand.

My advice: start with sugar and alcohol, because that holds the biggest win for most people. Then read your triglycerides alongside your approach to hdl cholesterol verhogen for the full picture.

Why you test triglycerides while fasted

You usually test triglycerides while fasted because they respond more strongly to food than any other blood fat. After a meal your value can temporarily double or more, as the fat you just absorbed travels through your blood as triglycerides. Eight to twelve hours without food therefore gives a more stable and comparable picture.

For LDL and HDL, eating matters less, but for triglycerides the difference is large. A non-fasted measurement can give a falsely elevated value.

There are situations where labs measure non-fasted on purpose, but for tracking your own triglycerides over time, consistency matters most. So always test under the same conditions.

Want these values in one view? The lipid panel measures your triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL together, with a doctor's assessment.

Your next step

Ready to act on this? Tackle the sugar and alcohol first, keep it up for a few weeks and then have your triglycerides tested fasted again to see the effect. Compare your new value with your previous reading and discuss notable results with your GP before you take any big steps.

Bronnen

1. Hartstichting. Triglyceriden en hart- en vaatziekten. Geraadpleegd 2026.
2. Skulas-Ray AC, Wilson PWF, Harris WS, et al. Omega-3 Fatty Acids for the Management of Hypertriglyceridemia: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2019;140(12):e673-e691. PMID: 31422671.
3. Parks EJ, Krauss RM, Christiansen MP, Neese RA, Hellerstein MK. Effects of a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet on VLDL-triglyceride assembly, production, and clearance. J Clin Invest. 1999;104(8):1087-1096. PMID: 10525047.

Disclaimer

Every blood test result includes a professional assessment from a BIG-registered doctor. This article is general information and is not a substitute for medical advice. A blood test is a tool to help you have a better-informed conversation with your GP, not a diagnosis in itself. For treatment decisions, discuss your results with your GP.