Pancreatitis can be fatal. Knowing your triglyceride level can provide an early warning system. Triglycerides are a type of blood fat. Having a high level can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Whenever you’ve had a blood test for cholesterol, your triglycerides were probably tested as well. Elevated triglycerides are actually a much bigger risk factor for heart attacks and strokes than cholesterol. Cholesterol has a lot of important roles in your body. Cholesterol is good for you (up to a point). When it comes to triglycerides, you don’t want much of this type of fat in your blood at all. The lower the better. New research has found a strong association between high triglycerides and pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). This research was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen followed 116,550 men and women for a period of seven years. The risk of acute pancreatitis rose sharply as triglyceride levels rose. The patients’ triglyceride levels were tested in a non-fasting state. At 177 to 265 milligrams per deciliter, the risk of pancreatitis increased by 130 percent; at triglyceride levels above 443, the risk increased by 770 percent. This association remained in place after researchers controlled for age, gender, alcohol intake, smoking and body weight. This is a significant finding because acute pancreatitis is usually a medical emergency. It is most common in people who consume large amounts of alcohol, people with gallstones or individuals with a pre-existing digestive disease. The next time you get a blood test, make sure you check your triglycerides. Elevated triglycerides are usually seen in people with Syndrome X. Fixing the syndrome X usually takes care of the triglycerides. Reference