Let's Do Some Triglyceride Talk! Huh? Yeah. All Those Culprit Carbs Can Raise Your Triglycerides, and That Could Lead to Heart Disease

If you're paying attention, just about every few days, you can learn about yet another connection between eating those culprit, quickie carbs and developing one health condition after another.

Did you know, for instance, that the more of those fast-acting carbs you eat, the higher your triglyceride levels will be? (Trigylcercides are a fat found in your blood.)

What's more, did you know that high triglycerides are an independent risk factor for heart disease, according to a whopping 89 percent of physicians interviewed for a first-of-its-kind study recently conducted by the National Lipid Association (NLA) survey of over 2,000 patients and 500 doctors?

But the problem, the NLA found, is that "patients--including those at greatest risk--are woefully unaware of the cardiovascular risks associated with unhealthy levels of triglycerides, a fat found in the blood."

The report continues: "The survey identified a major disconnect between the information about triglycerides and cholesterol that doctors believe they are discussing with patients and the level of understanding about these issues as demonstrated by patients; particularly those with an increased cardiovascular risk."

One of the study's most intriguing findings -- to me at least -- is that 80 percent of doctors survyed believe that high triglycerides are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

And yet -- here's the catch -- less than half of the patients polled reported that their doctor engaged in triglyceride talk with their doctor. Shame on them!

What gives, doctors? Why aren't you educating your patients more about the dangers of high triglyceride levels? And why aren't you telling folks that all that sugar and refined carbs can wreak havoc on triglyceride levels?

Alas, given my hectic schedule this week, I just don't have time to chat with cardiologist and lipidology expert Jerome Cohen, M.D., Director of Preventative Cardiology and Professor of Internal Medicine at St. Louis University for this blog item. (But I am fortunate enough to have a cardiologist, Dr. Stephen Sinatra, to put his weight behind my book, SUGAR SHOCK! In fact, he's its official medical consultant. He also is one of those doctors -- yeah! -- who alerts his patients to the dangers of sugars and refined carbs.)