High triglycerides are treatable through a combination of lifestyle changes and, when needed, medication. A healthy triglyceride level is below 150 mg/dL. Levels between 150 and 199 mg/dL are considered borderline high, 200 to 499 mg/dL is high, and anything at or above 500 mg/dL is very high and raises the risk of serious complications like acute pancreatitis.
Why Triglyceride Levels Matter
Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in your blood. Your body converts calories it doesn’t need right away into triglycerides and stores them in fat cells. Consistently elevated levels contribute to the hardening and thickening of artery walls, which increases your risk of heart attack and stroke.
The more urgent concern is pancreatitis. The risk of acute pancreatitis increases progressively once triglycerides exceed 500 mg/dL. At levels above 1,000 mg/dL, the risk is roughly 5 percent, and it climbs to 10 to 20 percent when levels exceed 2,000 mg/dL. This is why very high triglycerides are treated aggressively, often with medication from the start.
Lifestyle Changes That Lower Triglycerides
For most people with borderline or moderately high triglycerides, lifestyle changes are the first line of treatment. You can see initial improvements within days to weeks of eating better or exercising more. More substantial changes typically take 6 to 12 weeks, and lasting results require at least 6 months of consistency.
Diet
Refined carbohydrates and added sugars are the biggest dietary drivers of high triglycerides. Your liver converts excess sugar (especially fructose) into triglycerides. Cutting back on sugary drinks, white bread, pastries, and other processed carbohydrates can produce noticeable drops in your numbers. Replacing these with whole grains, vegetables, legumes, and lean protein helps sustain those improvements over time.
Healthy fats also play a role. Swapping saturated fats (found in red meat and full-fat dairy) for unsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, avocados, fatty fish) shifts your blood lipid profile in the right direction. Eating fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, or sardines two or more times per week provides omega-3 fatty acids, which directly lower triglyceride production in the liver.
Exercise
Regular aerobic exercise is one of the most effective non-drug tools for lowering triglycerides, particularly if your levels are already elevated. The recommended target is at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. Walking, cycling, swimming, and jogging all count. The key is frequency: exercising at least every other day keeps triglycerides consistently lower, while sporadic activity has less lasting effect. A good gauge of moderate intensity is the “talk test,” where you can still carry on a conversation even though your heart rate and breathing are noticeably elevated.
Alcohol
Alcohol has a direct and measurable effect on triglycerides. In healthy volunteers, doses above 50 grams of alcohol (roughly three to four standard drinks) acutely raise blood triglycerides. One study found that plasma triglyceride concentrations rose 43 percent after alcohol consumption in healthy men. If your triglycerides are already elevated, even moderate drinking can keep them high. Reducing or eliminating alcohol is one of the fastest ways to see improvement.
Weight Loss
Carrying excess weight, particularly around the midsection, is strongly linked to higher triglycerides. Losing even 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can meaningfully lower your levels. The mechanism is straightforward: as you lose fat, your body releases fewer fatty acids into the bloodstream, and your liver produces fewer triglyceride-carrying particles.
Omega-3 Supplements
Over-the-counter fish oil supplements can help, but the dose matters. A large review of 86 randomized controlled trials covering over 162,000 participants found that omega-3 supplements reduced triglycerides by about 15 percent on average, with each additional gram per day lowering levels by roughly 6 mg/dL. The effect was stronger in people who started with higher triglyceride levels.
For more serious triglyceride elevations, the American Heart Association supports prescription-strength omega-3 products at 4 grams per day. These concentrated formulations contain EPA and DHA (or EPA alone) and produce significantly larger reductions than standard fish oil capsules from a drugstore. They can be used on their own or alongside other lipid-lowering medications.
Prescription Medications
When lifestyle changes and supplements aren’t enough, or when triglycerides are high enough to pose immediate health risks, doctors turn to medication.
Fibrates
Fibrates are the most commonly prescribed drugs specifically targeting triglycerides. In people with moderately elevated triglycerides (below 500 mg/dL), fibrates typically reduce levels by 30 to 50 percent. Two fibrates are available in the U.S.: gemfibrozil and fenofibrate. They work by speeding up the breakdown of triglyceride-rich particles in the blood and reducing the liver’s production of those particles.
Statins
Statins are primarily prescribed for high LDL cholesterol, but they also reduce triglycerides by 10 to 30 percent as a secondary benefit. If you have both high LDL and elevated triglycerides, a statin may address both problems at once. For people whose triglycerides are the primary concern, though, statins alone are usually not sufficient.
Newer Targeted Therapies
For people with severe hypertriglyceridemia, particularly those with genetic conditions that cause triglycerides to soar above 500 or 1,000 mg/dL, newer drug classes are becoming available. These therapies target specific proteins that regulate how the body processes triglycerides. Some of the most promising work by blocking a protein called apoC-III, which normally slows triglyceride clearance from the blood. In clinical trials, drugs in this class have reduced triglycerides by 50 to 86 percent in patients with very high baseline levels. Another class targets a protein called ANGPTL3, with trial results showing triglyceride reductions of 40 to 60 percent. These treatments are currently used for rare, severe genetic conditions and are not yet part of routine care for typical high triglycerides.
How Long Treatment Takes
The timeline for results depends on the approach. Medications like fibrates and prescription omega-3s begin lowering triglycerides within the first few weeks. Lifestyle changes follow a more gradual curve: you may notice early improvements within a week or two, but meaningful, reliable reductions typically show up on lab work after 6 to 12 weeks. The important thing is that lasting results, the kind that stay consistent on repeated blood tests, generally take about 6 months of sustained effort.
Your doctor will likely recheck your triglycerides after two to three months of treatment to see whether the current plan is working or needs adjustment. If you started with levels above 500 mg/dL, expect closer monitoring, since the goal at that range is to reduce pancreatitis risk as quickly as possible.