To improve your health, a change in lifestyle goes a long way to decrease your triglycerides.  Research suggests that a plant-based diet with some animal products may lead to lower cholesterol and triglycerides, and a lower risk of heart disease and other health conditions, as previously noted. Here Rachael Link, MS, RD, HealthLine.com, reflects on ways to naturally lower your blood triglyceride levels:

“Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood.

After you eat, your body converts the calories that you don't need into triglycerides and stores them in your fat cells to be used for energy later.

While you do need triglycerides to supply your body with energy, having too many triglycerides in your blood can increase your risk of heart disease (1Trusted Source).

About 25% of adults in the US have elevated blood triglycerides, which is classified as having levels over 200 mg/dL (2.26 mmol/L). Obesity, uncontrolled diabetes, regular alcohol use and a high-calorie diet can all contribute to high blood triglyceride levels.

This article explores 13 ways to naturally reduce your blood triglycerides.

Lose Some Weight

Whenever you eat more calories than you need, your body turns those calories into triglycerides and stores them in fat cells.

That's why losing weight is an effective way to lower your blood triglyceride levels.

In fact, research has shown that losing even a modest 5–10% of your body weight can decrease blood triglycerides by 40 mg/dL (0.45 mmol/L) (2Trusted Source).

While the goal is to sustain weight loss in the long term, studies have found that weight loss can have a lasting effect on blood triglyceride levels, even if you regain some of the weight.

One study focused on participants who had dropped out of a weight management program. Even though they had regained the weight they had lost nine months before, their blood triglyceride levels remained 24–26% lower (3Trusted Source).

Limit Your Sugar Intake

Added sugar is a big part of many people's diets.

While the American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 6–9 teaspoons of added sugar per day, in 2008 the average American was eating about 19 teaspoons daily (4Trusted Source).

Hidden sugar commonly lurks in sweets, soft drinks and fruit juice.

Extra sugar in your diet is turned into triglycerides, which can lead to an increase in blood triglyceride levels, along with other heart disease risk factors.

One 15-year study showed that those who consumed at least 25% of calories from sugar were twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who consumed less than 10% of calories from sugar (5Trusted Source).

Another study found that consuming added sugar is associated with higher blood triglyceride levels in children (6Trusted Source).

Luckily, several studies have shown that diets low in carbs and added sugar can lead to a decrease in blood triglycerides (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).

Even replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water could decrease triglycerides by almost 29 mg/dL (0.33 mmol/L) (10Trusted Source).

Follow a Low-Carb Diet

Much like added sugar, extra carbs in your diet are converted into triglycerides and stored in fat cells.

Not surprisingly, low-carb diets have been linked to lower blood triglyceride levels.

One 2006 study looked at how various carb intakes affected triglycerides.

Those who were given a low-carb diet providing about 26% of calories from carbs had greater drops in blood triglyceride levels than those given higher-carb diets providing up to 54% of calories from carbs (8Trusted Source).

Another study looked at the effects of low and high-carb diets over a one-year period. Not only did the low-carb group lose more weight, but they also had greater reductions in blood triglycerides (7Trusted Source).

Finally, a 2003 study compared low-fat and low-carb diets. After six months, researchers found that blood triglycerides had dropped 38 mg/dL (0.43 mmol/L) in the low-carb group and only 7 mg/dL (0.08 mmol/L) in the low-fat group (9Trusted Source).

Eat More Fiber

Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Other good sources of fiber include nuts, cereals and legumes.

Including more fiber in your diet can decrease the absorption of fat and sugar in your small intestine, helping to lower the amount of triglycerides in your blood (11Trusted Source).

In one study, researchers showed that supplementing with rice bran fiber decreased blood triglycerides by 7–8% among people with diabetes (12Trusted Source).

Another study looked at how high and low-fiber diets affected blood triglyceride levels. The low-fiber diet caused triglycerides to jump 45% in just six days, but during the high-fiber phase, triglycerides dipped back below baseline levels (13Trusted Source).

Eat Fatty Fish Twice Weekly

Fatty fish is well known for its benefits on heart health and ability to lower blood triglycerides.

This is mostly due to its content of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid that is considered essential, meaning you need to get it through your diet.

Both the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and American Heart Association recommend eating two servings of fatty fish per week.

In fact, doing so can decrease the risk of death from heart disease by 36% (22Trusted Source).

A 2016 study showed that eating salmon twice a week significantly decreased blood triglyceride concentrations (23Trusted Source).

Salmon, herring, sardines, tuna and mackerel are a few types of fish that are especially high in omega-3 fatty acids.”

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