Blood and lab tests
What Are Triglycerides on a Blood Test?
Triglycerides · say it: try-GLIS-er-idesAlso written: TG, trigs, TRIG
Short answer
Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in the blood; the body stores extra energy from food as triglycerides.
What it means
When you eat more energy than you need right away, the body turns the extra into triglycerides and stores them in fat cells. They are released later for energy between meals.
Triglyceride levels rise after eating, especially after fatty or sugary meals and alcohol. For this reason, some clinics ask you to fast before a lipid test, although many now accept non-fasting samples.
High triglycerides are one of the factors doctors consider when thinking about heart and blood vessel risk, and very high levels can also affect the pancreas. Your report prints its own range for comparison.
Where you may see it
- Lipid panels or cholesterol profiles
- Metabolic and diabetes check-ups
- Liver and pancreas assessments
📄 How it looks on a report
Triglycerides 1.9 mmol/L H
🙅 What it does not mean
- A single high reading after a meal does not necessarily reflect your usual level.
- Triglycerides are not the same as cholesterol, although both appear on the same panel.
- A normal triglyceride level does not by itself rule out other heart risk factors.
🗒️ Questions to ask your doctor
🧾 Reports where you will see “Triglycerides”
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💊 Medicines whose labels mention “Triglycerides”
Plain-English explanations of each medicine, from its official FDA label.
- Olanzapine
An atypical antipsychotic, a prescription medicine used for certain mental health conditions
- Quetiapine
An atypical antipsychotic medicine
- Rosuvastatin
a cholesterol-lowering medicine of the statin type (an HMG CoA reductase inhibitor)
- Simvastatin
a cholesterol-lowering medicine of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor type (often called a statin)
🔗 Read more from trusted sources
- “Triglycerides” on MedlinePlus ↗
US National Library of Medicine
- MedlinePlus lab test guides ↗
US National Library of Medicine
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General information about a medical word, not advice about your own results. Ask the clinician who ordered the test what it means for you.