Carbohydrate raises Triglycerides?

High-Carb Junk Food

Cognitive dissonance is the name given to a condition whereby you believe two things that are opposites. Here is an example of this playing out every day in diet and nutrition understanding.

Type-2 diabetes is a sugar problem.  Before modern analysis it was identified by finding sugar in urine.  Sugar (a carbohydrate) turns to glucose in the human body and excess glucose plus insulin is the type-2 diabetes problem.  Now we have access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) to see what’s happening with glucose in real time.  ALL carbohydrate except fiber, is turned into glucose in the body even whole grains.

From the early 20th century it became accepted that having diabetes dramatically raised the risk of heart disease.  Autopsies of diabetics showed advanced artery damage and this was happening much younger than in a non-diabetic person.  The American Diabetic Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) state, “Adults with diabetes are 2 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, even if their diabetes is managed well”.

Anthony G. Jay PhD. in his excellent book, "Sugar Beat" shows that Insulin resistance (a result of chronic high glucose) has a hazard ratio for early onset Heart Disease of 6.4, elevated triglycerides 2.14, and elevated LDL 1.38. ( 1.0 indicates no elevated hazard)

To clarify,  the people with the highest risk of heart attack have a condition which is made much worse by eating more carbohydrate (sugar).  But, sadly, the AHA recommend a diet that is higher in carbohydrate. The human body gets almost all its energy from either carbohydrate, which becomes glucose, or fat that becomes fatty acids.  Reduce one and you need to increase the other to provide your body with its daily energy needs.   So if you cut back on carbohydrates to reduce your diabetes risk, then you must increase your dietary fat intake.

But, for many years, we’ve been told that fat is the enemy.

Research since 1961 has identified that your triglyceride level is a better indicator of heart disease risk than your LDL cholesterol level, (as shown with the hazard ratios above).  Triglycerides are an indicator of the level of fat in your blood. This is now part of the testing for Metabolic Syndrome, which is an indicator of heart disease progression.  The 5 tests are waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose.   Once again, “blood glucose” or sugar in the blood is highlighted yet there is no LDL test.   In a surprising revelation, it is clearly identified that triglycerides, which are fat in the blood, don’t really change when you eat more saturated fat, but increase when you eat carbohydrates. In my own case when I transitioned to a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet, my triglycerides level dropped rapidly. Dietary carbohydrate raises triglycerides.

See research here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11082210/

"It has been known for decades that low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets can increase plasma triglyceride levels,…"

and this : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30649213/

"Conclusions: Those on a low-carbohydrate weight-loss diet who increase their percentage intake of dietary saturated fat may improve their overall lipid profile……."

Yet we were told to base our diet mostly on carbohydrates!

It would seem that even with the revelations of the latest research we struggle to shed the old guidance, much of which was decided years ago, before we had the technology to really understand what was going on in our body.  Thank goodness for the latest dietary guidelines from the USA which massively reduced the recommended dietary levels for carbohydrate and moved fat up to where it belongs.  For thousands of years, humans have been getting most of their energy from fat.  Low-fat is not healthy, because it increases carbohydrate levels!  Simply put, the fear of fat is unfounded, so long as it is a traditional fat and not a factory-made recent invention like vegetable oils.

If you want advice, check me out at www.eldergeo.com.  Seek medical advice before dietary changes, particularly if on medication.  George Elder, Certified Health Coach, Author, Diploma in Nutrition.    The best thing you can do for your health is eat better.