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Triglycerides, also known as triacylglycerols, are the major source of energy in animals and plants. Triacylglycerols are members of the lipid family, which also includes cholesterol and various other phospholipids. The function and metabolism of these high-energy compounds is complex and has been know to cause many a headache for medical, biochemistry and nutrition students throughout the world.

Triglycerides can be obtained from diet, or produced in the liver using glucose as a starting point. They are not able to dissolve in water, a fact which becomes important when discussing how they are transported around the body's blood, which is water based.

When ingested in your diet, triglycerides are broken up by in the small intestine with the help of bile from your gallbladder. Once inside the cells of the small intestine, they are attached to a protein called a chylomicron. When the triglyceride and chylomicron are together they are part of another category of chemical called a "lipoprotein".

What do you get when you cross a lipid (triglyceride) with a protein (chylomicron)? Yes, you guessed it, a lipoprotein! There are many types of lipoproteins, some of which you may already be familiar with, such as HDL and LDL (High and Low Density Lipoprotein, respectively). Lesser known lipoproteins include VLDL (Very Low Density), IDL (Intermediate Density) and our old friend the chylomicron. OK, back to our story.

The triglyceride that has been attached to the chylomicron is now able to dissolve in the bloodstream, and is released to travel throughout the body. Once the chylomicron gets to a tissue that needs the attached triglyceride, let us say a muscle cell, the triglyceride is removed and the chylomicron remnant is recycled to repeat the transport process once again. The triglyceride molecule can then be broken down by the muscle cell and used for energy.

When a triglyceride is made by the liver, as opposed to being ingested, a similar process takes place. This time the lipoprotein that does the transporting is a different molecule known as a Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL).

When the body finds itself with too many triglycerides and not enough demand to use them, they can be transported (with chylomicrons and VLDL) to fat cells and used to made fatty acids, which is then strategically placed by your body to make sure you look really bad in that new bathing suit you just bought.

Bear in mind that the processes outlined above are vastly oversimplified. There are literally dozens of other "helper" molecules and enzymes involved in each step of the process. The names and functions of those helpers are outside the scope of this article.

Treatment of elevated levels of triglycerides can be done a couple of ways. The first and most obvious is to limit your dietary intake. If that doesn't get the levels to a safe point, there are several categories of medications available that can lower triglyceride levels. The most effective of these are Niacin and Fibrates. Statins, such as Zocor and Lipitor, are less effective at lowering triglycerides but are very popular for their ability to lower LDL and raise HDL levels. There is also some evidence that fish oil may benefit people with high triglyceride levels.

Lastly, there are many causes of high triglyceride levels, including, but not limited to, diabetes, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, high fat and sugar diets. There are inherited/genetic causes as well. Persistently elevated triglyceride levels have been liked to atherosclerosis (damage to the walls of your arteries), which can lead to heart damage.

Learn more about this author, Erich Rosenberger M.D..
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