HERLEV, Denmark, July 17 (UPI) -- New Danish studies reveal that triglyceride levels two to four hours after a meal predict cardiovascular risk better than fasting triglyceride levels.
Researchers at Herlev University in Denmark came to that conclusion because fasting triglyceride levels do not catch "remnant" lipoproteins that may be risk factors for atherosclerosis and predispose people to heart attacks, ischemic heart disease and death.
They reviewed data on 7,587 women and 6,394 men between ages 20 and 93 from the general population of Copenhagen from 1976 and followed their health status through 2004. They found that the cumulative incidence of heart attack, IHD, and death increased as levels of non-fasting triglycerides increased, and that the association was more pronounced in women.
In a similar U.S. study, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health looked at 26,509 initially healthy women taking part in the Women's Health Study beginning in November 1992.
At a median follow-up of 11.4 years, high non-fasting triglyceride levels were strongly associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events, independent of baseline cardiac risk factors, levels of other lipids, and markers of insulin resistance. They said samples taken two to four hours after eating were most predictive with significance falling rapidly after four hours, but fasting triglyceride levels were not predictive at all.
The studies appear in the July 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
