Triglycerides: Good For You?

• The word "triglyceride" is not usually used positively in discussions of heart disease and diabetes. Doctors become concerned over the triglyceride levels in patients with those conditions. Yet triglycerides are also good for you. So how does the body deal with excess triglycerides?
  
  

What Are Triglycerides?

• Triglycerides are a chemical compound made of fatty acids.They make up most of the fat that people digest. When the body burns the calories it needs for energy and has leftovers, it transforms them into triglycerides and stores them in fat cells for future use. In this way, triglycerides are important to your health. However, having too many triglycerides in your body can greatly contribute to metabolic syndrome, which puts you at risk for diabetes and heart disease. Experts at the American Heart Association say that a triglyceride level of more than 150mg is considered high.
  
  

Normal Metabolism and Exercise

• The body gets rid of triglycerides through regular metabolism if all of the organs are working at normal levels. In normal metabolism, in which the only caloric intake is what is used by the body, any excess triglycerides are combined with waste in the small intestines.
  
  Regular exercise can also get rid of excess triglycerides. Exercise that burns calories beyond what your body normally uses causes a chemical transformation in triglycerides. Exercise changes them into acetyl CoA, a chemical used for energy production. The acetyl is combined with oxygen, which then becomes carbon dioxide and water that is burned up in exercise.
  
  

Helping Your Body

• The largest contributor to excess triglycerides is obesity. Besides exercise, adjusting your diet can also assist your body in getting rid of triglycerides. Your body still needs sugar and complex carbohydrates that can be found in fruits, vegetables and legumes. Processed sugars and carbohydrates, however, can make your body's blood sugar spike and start storing it in your fat cells. Getting rid of sweets and processed carbohydrates (which can be found in corn syrup and almost any ingredient that ends in "-ose") and sticking to the "good" sugars can help your body rid itself of excess triglycerides. Trans fats should also be eliminated.