
10 Causes of High Triglycerides in Diabetes
It's not surprising to have high triglyceride levels if you have type 2 diabetes. About 80% of people with diabetes struggle with this problem. Elevated triglyceride levels are also a component of metabolic syndrome, a group of disorders that increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Other symptoms of this syndrome include high blood sugar, high blood pressure, low HDL (good cholesterol), and excess belly fat.
Definition
Triglycerides are fat molecules that make up most of your body fat and the fat found in food. Along with cholesterol, they are one of the lipids that circulate in your blood. The medical term for having elevated levels of triglycerides is hypertriglyceridemia
.
In fasting laboratory tests, a normal triglyceride level is below 150 mg/dL. Borderline high is 150 to 199 mg/dL. High is considered 200 to 499 mg/dL. Very high is over 500 mg/dL.
High triglyceride levels can increase your risk for heart disease, stroke, and nerve damage. There is a link between chronically elevated triglyceride levels and atherosclerosis
, as well as insulin resistance.
Causes of High Triglycerides
There are many causes for high triglyceride levels. The list below includes common causes for people who have type 2 diabetes and related problems:
Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes: When your diabetes is not under good control, you likely have high levels of both glucose (blood sugar) and insulin in your body.
Insulin helps convert glucose into glycogen (the stored form of glucose) and helps to store glycogen in the liver. When the liver becomes too saturated with
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