Great source of marine omega-3 fatty acids
Circulation recently published the American Heart Association Scientific Statement: Triglycerides and Cardiovascular Disease. I’ve not read the full document, but here are a few tidbits I’ll share:
- Triglycerides (TGs) are not direclty atherogenic; they are a biomarker for cardiovascular risk
- Optimal fasting TGs are under 100 mg/dl (1.1 mmol/l)
- Normal nonfasting TGs are under 200 mg/dl (2.3 mmol/l)
- If levels are high, treatment focuses on intensive therapeutic lifestyle change
- To reduce high TGs, diet modifications include reduction of “simple carbohydrates” like added sugars and fructose by replacing with unsaturated fats, implementing a Mediterranean-style diet, reduction of saturated fat and trans fat consumption, increased marine omega-3 fatty acid intake
- To reduce high TGs in the setting of overweight and obesity, aim for loss of 5 or 10% of body weight
- To reduce high TGs, do aerobic exercise at least twice weekly
From my quick scan, I didn’t see much effort to push drugs on people with triglycerides under 500 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l).
Thanks to Circulation for making this available to the public at no charge.
