Alcohol consumption can raise blood triglyceride levels, which is a health risk for heart disease. Alcohol converts into triglycerides and increases the liver’s production of triglycerides, leading to excess triglycerides in the bloodstream. Doctors recommend limiting alcohol consumption to people with high triglyceride levels.
Triglycerides and alcohol are linked as alcohol consumption can raise blood triglyceride levels. Even small amounts of alcohol can cause increases in blood lipids, or fats, which is why doctors recommend limiting alcohol consumption to people with high triglyceride levels. Consuming 5 ounces (142 grams) or less of alcohol per day is the general recommendation for people with high triglycerides.
Alcohol raises blood triglyceride levels in two main ways. First, alcohol is in the form of fermented sugar, which the body converts into triglycerides when present in excessive amounts. If the body is unable to use the sugar immediately for energy, the sugar is converted into fat and stored in fat cells for later use. People with high triglycerides are also advised to limit their sugar intake, because it is converted into triglycerides in the same way as sugar alcohol.
Alcohol also raises blood triglyceride levels, because alcohol increases the liver’s production of fatty acids, or triglycerides, by inhibiting the liver enzyme that breaks down triglycerides. Inhibition of this enzyme means that excess triglyceride production will occur. The excess triglycerides are then released into the bloodstream.
When alcohol is present in the body, the liver works hard to eliminate it, but other liver functions are impaired in the process. It takes the liver an hour to break down and eliminate 1 ounce (28 grams) of alcohol. These two processes—the sugar in the alcohol converting to triglycerides and the alcohol increasing the liver’s production of triglycerides—illustrate the link between triglycerides and alcohol.
Triglycerides are the most common form of fat, both in food and in body fat. When a fat-containing meal is eaten, any fat not immediately burned for energy is stored in the body’s fat cells in the form of triglycerides. High blood levels of triglycerides are a known health risk for atherosclerosis, a type of heart disease. That’s why it’s important to keep triglyceride levels healthy. Knowing the relationship between triglycerides and alcohol — drinking alcohol can raise triglyceride levels — can help you make the right decisions when it comes to heart health.
Triglyceride levels are a health indicator that can be measured with a blood test, often a blood lipid panel that looks at other blood lipids in addition to triglycerides. Triglycerides and alcohol are a combination that can upset the balance of healthy blood lipid levels, leading to health consequences that affect the heart. Alcohol consumption raises triglycerides and should be limited or avoided in people with unhealthy blood lipid levels.
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