Video: How to Fast Before a Triglycerides Blood Test

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Before a triglycerides blood test, a person should fast for 12 hours by not eating or drinking foods or drinks with calories. Fast properly before a triglycerides blood test with tips from a licensed dietitian in this free video on health and nutrition.

Video Transcript

My name is Christine Marquette and I am a registered dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic and I'm going to talk to you about how to fast before a blood triglycerides test. Triglycerides are another type of fat in the blood very similar to cholesterol and often times this particular blood test will be done at the same time that your cholesterol is checked so for both cholesterol and triglycerides you need to fast for 12 hours before your test, that means no food and no drinks with calories in them. You may drink water and a lot of labs will allow you to drink plain black coffee or plain tea meaning no sugar added, no milk, no cream, cannot have anything with any calories in it before this test. Prior to the 12 hours it is recommended that you follow your normal diet. Try not to make any modifications as to how you eat because this will give the best indicator as to what your triglyceride levels truly are. If you start trying to make modifications say a week or two prior to your blood draw it may actually change your numbers. Triglycerides in particular are very much effected by alcohol, sugar, and starch so for example if you drink a lot of regular soda water that can make your triglycerides very high. If you drink a lot of beer or wine that can also make your triglycerides very high or if you eat a lot of starches like white bread, floured tortillas or a lot of sweets like pastries, cookies, cakes, ice creams, those types of things those can also make your triglycerides very elevated so it is important to know how your body responds to those types of foods so the best thing to do is not to change your diet, follow your normal eating patterns and then just do your fast for 12 hours, have your blood drawn and then that way your doctor can actually identify if you are having any problems with your triglycerides and at that point you need to make some dietary changes. But again it is best to follow your normal diet and then just fast twelve hours beforehand and then have your blood drawn.

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How to Fast Before a Triglycerides Blood Test

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