Are High Triglycerides Genetic? What Research on Genes, Pancreatitis Risk, Testing and New apoC-III Drugs Shows

Are High Triglycerides Genetic? What Research on Genes, Pancreatitis Risk, Testing and New apoC-III Drugs Shows

This article is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for advice from a licensed physician, board-certified medical geneticist, or board-certified genetic counselor. For any decisions about testing, treatment, or care, consult a qualified clinician. In emergencies, call 911.

Bottom line: Research shows that high triglycerides are usually “a little genetic and a lot of other things.” In a Canadian-American study of 563 white (Caucasian) patients with very high levels, only about 1 in 100 had the rare single-gene form. A 2025 review of 2,521 adults found the same pattern: the rare form explained fewer than 5 in 100 cases. Most people carry many small gene effects that add up, and diet, alcohol, weight, diabetes and medicines then push the number higher. Your measured blood level, not a DNA result, guides most care decisions.

What you’ll learn

• What the triglyceride numbers mean, in both mg/dL and mmol/L
• How many small gene effects differ from one rare gene change, and why that matters
• What a 23andMe Triglycerides result can and cannot tell you
• What the new apoC-III injections are approved for, as of October 2026

What triglycerides are and what the numbers mean

Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in your blood. Your body stores extra calories as triglycerides and burns them later for energy. They travel in the blood inside tiny fat-carrying particles. Some particles come from the liver. Others, called chylomicrons, carry fat from the food you just ate.

An enzyme called lipoprotein lipase, or LPL, clears these particles. Think of LPL as a pair of scissors on the walls of blood vessels. It snips fat out of the particles so muscles and fat tissue can use it. When the scissors work slowly, triglycerides pile up in the blood.

MedlinePlus, the plain-language health site of the US National Library of Medicine, groups results like this:

Category	US labs (mg/dL)	Canadian labs (mmol/L, approx.)
Normal	Less than 150	Less than 1.7
Borderline high	150 to 199	1.7 to 2.2
High	200 to 499	2.3 to 5.6
Very high	500 and above	5.6 and above

To convert, divide mg/dL by about 88.5. So 150 mg/dL is about 1.7 mmol/L, and 1,000 mg/dL is about 11.3 mmol/L.

MedlinePlus lists many common causes of high triglycerides:

• Eating more calories than you burn, especially lots of sugar
• Being overweight
• Smoking and heavy drinking
• Certain medicines
• Thyroid, liver or kidney disease
• Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes
• Some genetic disorders

US guidelines also treat a lasting level of 175 mg/dL (about 2.0 mmol/L) or more as a “risk-enhancing factor”. That phrase means it can tip a doctor toward more active heart prevention. The 2018 cholesterol guideline also says screening can use a fasting or nonfasting blood test.

Triglycerides change a lot from day to day. A big meal, a few drinks or a recent illness can raise them. One flagged result is a reason to repeat the test, not a final verdict. The 2021 American College of Cardiology (ACC) pathway uses the word “persistent” with care. Levels count as persistent only if they stay high after 4 to 12 weeks of lifestyle changes and treatment of other causes.

Canada’s 2021 guideline uses mmol/L throughout. When triglycerides are above 1.5 mmol/L (about 133 mg/dL), it prefers other blood markers for heart-risk screening. These are non-HDL cholesterol (all the “bad” cholesterol types added together) or apolipoprotein B (a count of harmful particles). Ask your doctor which number your lab report uses.

Section recap: Normal triglycerides are below 150 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L), and 500 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) or more is very high. One high result usually calls for a repeat test and a talk with your primary-care doctor.

How genes shape triglycerides: many small effects vs one rare gene

The genes behind the “scissors”

Several genes control how well LPL works. Some act like helpers. One acts like a brake.

Gene	What its protein does	Effect when it does not work well
LPL	The “scissors” enzyme that clears fat	Triglycerides build up
APOC2	Switches LPL on	Triglycerides build up
APOA5	Helps LPL work	Triglycerides build up
GPIHBP1	Holds LPL in place on vessel walls	Triglycerides build up
LMF1	Helps LPL fold into its working shape	Triglycerides build up
APOC3	Makes apoC-III, a brake on fat clearing	Lower triglycerides (less brake)

The first five genes were screened in a key Canadian-American study. APOC3 is different. When APOC3 does not work, the brake is weaker, so triglycerides fall.

Three kinds of genetic background

Researchers describe three situations. Readers often mix them up.

Situation	What it means	How common in severe cases
Polygenic (many genes)	Many common gene differences, each with a tiny effect, add up	Most people with high levels
One rare large-effect change	One copy of a strong variant, for example in LPL or APOA5, raises risk	Some people; usually needs a “second hit”
Familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS)	Both copies of a key gene are broken	Rare: about 1 to 5 in 100 severe cases

FCS is autosomal recessive. That means a person is affected only if they get a broken copy from each parent. People with one broken copy are called carriers. Carriers often have normal or mildly raised levels.

What the numbers show

Dron and colleagues studied 563 patients with severe high triglycerides. All were white (Caucasian), from Ontario and California. The team sequenced 73 genes and looked at 185 common variants.

Finding (Dron 2019, Caucasian patients only)	Share of patients
Both copies broken (the FCS-type form)	1.1% (about 1 in 100)
One copy of a rare strong variant	14.4%
Very high polygenic score (many small variants)	32.0%
Total “polygenic” form	46.3% (about 46 in 100)
No genetic cause found with this panel	52.6% (about 53 in 100)

Patients were 5.77 times more likely than healthy controls to carry one of these genetic patterns. Because every patient in this study was Caucasian, these exact percentages may not fit other groups.

A 2025 systematic review pooled 10 studies of 2,521 adults with levels of 500 mg/dL or more. A systematic review collects and compares all the studies it can find on one question. It found FCS in fewer than 5 in 100 cases. People with FCS had extreme levels, above 2,800 mg/dL, and more than 70 in 100 had pancreatitis. The polygenic form made up about 70 to 80 in 100 cases.

The review also found that fatty liver disease was very common in polygenic cases. The authors describe a “two-hit” model. Genes load the dice, and things like weight, sugar, alcohol or diabetes roll them.

Large gene maps

The Global Lipids Genetics Consortium studied about 1.65 million people. This kind of whole-genome scan is called a genome-wide association study. It found many common gene differences linked to blood fats. Each one nudges levels a tiny bit. About 350,000 participants had non-European ancestry. Adding more diverse people made gene-based predictions work better across groups.

Section recap: High triglycerides are usually polygenic, meaning many small gene effects plus lifestyle and health factors. The rare FCS form needs two broken gene copies, and a genetic counselor can help sort out which picture fits your family.

Risk magnitude: heart disease and the pancreatitis threshold

High triglycerides raise two different questions. One is about the heart. The other is about the pancreas, an organ behind the stomach that makes digestive juices. For most people with mildly high levels, the heart question matters more.

The heart story

Gene studies give strong clues. A 2014 study sequenced the genes of 3,734 people. About 1 in 150 people carried a rare change that switched off one copy of APOC3. These carriers had 39% lower triglycerides than noncarriers. They also had 40% lower risk of coronary heart disease. This was found among 498 carriers and more than 110,000 noncarriers.

This suggests that lifelong lower apoC-III and triglycerides help protect the heart. It does not prove that lowering triglycerides with a drug prevents heart attacks.

Two big drug trials point in different directions:

Trial	Who joined	Result on heart events	Absolute difference
REDUCE-IT (icosapent ethyl, funded by Amarin)	8,179 people on statins with heart disease or diabetes, TG 135 to 499 mg/dL	17.2% vs 22.0% over about 5 years	About 5 fewer people per 100 had an event
PROMINENT (pemafibrate)	10,497 people with type 2 diabetes, TG 200 to 499 mg/dL	572 vs 560 patients had an event	No benefit; about 11 in 100 in each group

Pemafibrate lowered triglycerides by about 26% but did not reduce heart events. REDUCE-IT patients had more hospital stays for an irregular heartbeat, 3.1% vs 2.1%. Experts still debate why REDUCE-IT worked. So it is not settled that lowering triglycerides by itself protects the heart.

The pancreatitis story

Very high triglycerides can cause acute pancreatitis. This is a sudden, painful swelling of the pancreas that often needs a hospital stay. The ACC calls 500 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) or more “severe,” and especially 1,000 mg/dL (11.3 mmol/L) or more.

A Danish study followed 116,550 adults for about 7 years. Pancreatitis risk climbed step by step as triglycerides rose.

Nonfasting triglycerides	Pancreatitis per year	Heart attack per year
Below 89 mg/dL (1 mmol/L)	Lowest group (comparison)	Not shown here
443 mg/dL (5 mmol/L) or more	About 1 in 1,000 people	About 8 in 1,000 people

People in the top group were 8.7 times more likely to get pancreatitis than the lowest group. That sounds large. In plain numbers, though, it means about 12 cases per 10,000 people each year. In the same group, heart attacks were about 6 times more common than pancreatitis.

The picture is very different at extreme levels. In the 2025 review, more than 70 in 100 people with FCS had had pancreatitis. In the olezarsen trials, among high-risk patients on placebo, about 29 in 100 had an attack within a year.

Section recap: For most people, high triglycerides are mainly a heart-risk question, and drug trials on that question disagree. Pancreatitis risk climbs sharply at very high levels, so levels of 500 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) or more need prompt medical follow-up.

Testing options: lipid panel, clinical genetic testing and the 23andMe report

Start with the blood test

The first test is a standard lipid panel, which measures cholesterol and triglycerides together. Insurance or provincial plans usually cover it when a doctor orders it. If your result is high, your doctor may repeat it after fasting.

The ACC pathway lists other conditions and habits that raise triglycerides. Doctors call these “secondary causes.” They include:

• Diabetes and metabolic syndrome
• Chronic kidney disease
• Pregnancy
• Inflammatory diseases
• High alcohol intake
• Diets high in saturated fat
• Some medicines, such as beta-blockers, diuretics (water pills), estrogens, steroids and some HIV drugs

Your doctor may check your thyroid, blood sugar, kidneys and liver. Never stop a prescribed medicine on your own. Ask your doctor first.

When clinical genetic testing comes up

A clinical genetic test looks for broken copies of genes such as LPL, APOC2, APOA5, GPIHBP1 and LMF1. Doctors usually consider it when a person has:

• Very high levels since childhood
• Repeated pancreatitis
• Levels that stay extreme despite treatment
• Signs that suggest FCS

GeneReviews, an expert medical reference hosted by NIH, describes the most common FCS gene form. This is LPL deficiency, and it usually shows up in childhood. Signs include belly pain, repeated pancreatitis and small yellow skin bumps. About 1 in 4 affected children have symptoms before age 1. A diagnosis is made when testing finds both copies of LPL broken.

What the 23andMe Triglycerides report is

The 23andMe Health Predisposition report on triglycerides is a polygenic estimate. The company says it uses more than 7,400 gene variants. It adds up many small effects into one likelihood score. The company lists several ancestry groups it applies to.

Here is what that report is not:

• It is not a diagnosis.
• It is not a test for FCS or other rare single-gene causes.
• It is not a replacement for a blood test.

This company page is product information, not proof that the report is clinically useful. Bring the report to your doctor, but let your blood level lead the conversation.

Test	What it measures	What it can tell you
Lipid panel	Fat levels in your blood today	Your actual triglyceride level
Clinical genetic panel	Rare variants in LPL-pathway genes	Whether FCS or a strong single variant is present
23andMe polygenic report	Thousands of common small variants	A rough likelihood, not a diagnosis

Finding a genetic counselor

A genetic counselor is a trained health professional who explains genetic tests and results. In the US, genetic counselors are certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC). In Canada, certification is through the Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors (CAGC). The National Society of Genetic Counselors is a professional society, not a certifying body. Its Find a Genetic Counselor directory can help you find someone near you.

Section recap: A lipid panel and a check for other causes come first. Clinical genetic testing is for suspected FCS or extreme cases, and a 23andMe report is only a rough likelihood to discuss with your doctor.

Interpreting results: polygenic score vs pathogenic variant vs VUS

A genetic result can fall into one of three main types. Each one means something different.

Result type	What it means	What usually happens next
Polygenic “increased likelihood”	You carry more small-effect variants than average	Read it alongside your blood level
Pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant	A change known or very likely to break a gene	Two broken copies support FCS; one copy means higher risk
VUS (variant of uncertain significance)	A change whose effect is not yet known	Do not change care based on it alone

A polygenic result

A polygenic score shifts the odds. It does not decide your fate. In the Dron study, more than half of patients had no genetic cause found. So a “typical likelihood” result does not cancel a high lab value.

Scores also work better for some groups than others. Most early lipid gene studies used people of European ancestry. The large 2021 gene study found that adding diverse participants made predictions work better. If your ancestry is not mainly European, the score may be less accurate for you.

A pathogenic variant

A pathogenic variant is a gene change known to cause disease. If testing finds two broken LPL copies, that confirms LPL deficiency, a form of FCS. If testing finds only one copy, you are a carrier. GeneReviews notes that carriers are more likely to have high triglycerides. It is like a car with one weak brake line: it still runs, but stress shows the weakness sooner.

A VUS

A VUS is a gene change scientists cannot yet classify as harmful or harmless. It should not change your care by itself. Labs may reclassify it later as more data come in. Ask your genetic counselor how you will hear about any update.

The blood level still leads

In almost every case, your measured triglyceride level drives treatment. Genetics adds context. It can explain why your level runs high, or why relatives share the pattern. A lipid specialist or genetic counselor can put the pieces together for you.

Section recap: A polygenic score is a probability, a pathogenic variant can confirm FCS, and a VUS should not change care on its own. Your blood level remains the main guide, so review any result with a clinician.

Prevention and management: what lowers triglycerides and when medicines are added

Lifestyle is the foundation

Guidelines in both countries put lifestyle first. This holds even when genes play a role. Genes load the dice, but daily habits still change the roll.

The ACC pathway recommends these steps:

• See a registered dietitian.
• Aim for 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity.
• Lose 5% to 10% of body weight if you are overweight.
• Limit alcohol, especially when triglycerides are very high.
• Treat other causes, such as diabetes or a thyroid problem.

Canada’s guideline also calls regular exercise and a heart-healthy diet the cornerstone of prevention.

When levels are very high

For severe levels, the ACC summary advises limiting all dietary fat to about 20 to 30 grams a day. At 1,000 mg/dL (11.3 mmol/L) or more, it describes a very-low-fat diet, about 10% to 15% of calories. For LPL deficiency, GeneReviews describes fat intake of 20 grams a day or less. A dietitian should guide these plans, because they are hard to follow alone.

GeneReviews also lists things that can worsen LPL deficiency. These include alcohol, estrogen pills, water pills, some acne and mood medicines, steroids and beta-blockers. Only your doctor should decide whether to change any prescription.

Medicine classes doctors use

Doctors pick medicines based on your overall risk, not just your triglyceride number.

Medicine type	Main role	What the evidence shows
Statins	Lower overall heart risk	Part of standard care when indicated
Icosapent ethyl (prescription)	Selected high-risk patients on statins	About 5 fewer heart events per 100 over about 5 years in REDUCE-IT
Fibrates (e.g., pemafibrate)	Lower triglycerides	PROMINENT showed no heart benefit
Prescription omega-3	Very high triglycerides	Recommended with a very-low-fat diet at 1,000 mg/dL or more

The ACC pathway says adults without heart disease or diabetes, with levels between 150 and 499 mg/dL, usually do not need non-statin triglyceride drugs. It also stresses prescription omega-3 products, not store-bought fish oil.

That difference matters. Over-the-counter fish oil is not the same as a prescription product. For people with LPL deficiency, GeneReviews says fish oil supplements should not be used at all. They can raise triglyceride and chylomicron levels.

Questions to ask your doctor

• Is this level high enough to need a repeat test or a specialist?
• Could a current medicine or another condition be raising it?
• Would a dietitian or a lipid clinic help?
• Does the overall heart risk call for a statin or another medicine?

Section recap: Weight, activity, alcohol and diet changes are the base of treatment, even with a genetic background. Medicines depend on overall risk, and store-bought fish oil is not a substitute, so plan any change with your clinician.

The apoC-III era: olezarsen and plozasiran

Why apoC-III is a target

Recall that apoC-III acts as a brake on fat clearing. People born with one switched-off APOC3 copy have lower triglycerides and less heart disease. That finding gave drug makers a clear target. Two new drugs block the making of apoC-III in the liver. Both are injections.

• Olezarsen (brand name Tryngolza) is an antisense drug. It is a short, man-made strand of genetic code that blocks the apoC-III message.
• Plozasiran (brand name Redemplo) is a small interfering RNA drug. It also silences the apoC-III message, in a slightly different way.

What the trials found

Trial	Patients	Triglyceride change	Pancreatitis	Funded by
CORE and CORE2 (olezarsen)	1,061 adults with severe high triglycerides	Triglycerides fell about 49% to 72% more than with placebo at 6 months	About 5 in 100 on placebo vs fewer than 1 in 100 on the drug	Ionis
PALISADE (plozasiran)	75 adults with persistent chylomicronemia	About 80% lower vs 17% on placebo at 10 months	About 20 in 100 on placebo vs 8 in 100 on 25 mg	Arrowhead

The olezarsen pancreatitis numbers come from the FDA label’s combined trial data. In high-risk patients, about 29 in 100 on placebo had an attack, compared with about 4 in 100 on olezarsen. These patients had levels of 880 mg/dL (about 9.9 mmol/L) or more and past pancreatitis.

PALISADE was small, so its pancreatitis numbers are less certain. Its patients started at a median of 2,044 mg/dL. Only about half had a confirmed genetic diagnosis of FCS.

Safety and what is still unknown

Both drugs had side effects in trials. With olezarsen, liver enzyme rises and low platelet counts were more common at the higher dose. Platelets are blood cells that help clotting. Liver fat also rose as the dose went up. With plozasiran, common side effects included belly pain, headache and nausea. Some patients with diabetes or prediabetes had higher blood sugar.

These trials did not test whether the drugs prevent heart attacks or strokes. That question is still open.

Approval status as of October 2026

Regulators record different uses in each country. The table below comes from FDA approval letters and labels, and from Health Canada records.

Drug	FDA (US): FCS	FDA (US): severe high TG (500 mg/dL or more)	Health Canada: FCS	Health Canada: severe high TG
Olezarsen (Tryngolza)	Approved 2024-12-19	Approved 2026-06-24	Authorized 2025-12-16	Not authorized
Plozasiran (Redemplo)	Approved 2025-11-18	Not approved	Authorized 2026-01-02	Not authorized

In Canada, plozasiran is for adults with FCS whose standard triglyceride treatment has not worked well enough. Neither drug has a pediatric use authorized in Canada.

These are specialist medicines for very high levels. They are not meant for mildly high triglycerides. Insurance and provincial coverage may be limited. Ask your insurer or provincial plan, and talk with a lipid specialist about whether you fit.

Section recap: Olezarsen and plozasiran lower triglycerides sharply and reduced pancreatitis in trials, but their heart effects are untested. Approved uses differ between the US and Canada, so a lipid specialist should guide any decision.

Family implications and psychosocial issues: relatives, GINA and insurance

What it means for your relatives

The family picture depends on the genetic type.

Genetic type	Chance for relatives	Practical step
Polygenic	Relatives share some genes and often the same habits	Siblings and adult children can ask their doctor about a lipid panel
FCS (autosomal recessive)	Each sibling has a 25% chance of being affected if both parents are carriers	Genetic counseling and family testing
FCS carriers	Each sibling has a 50% chance of being a carrier	A routine lipid panel can check levels

For FCS, GeneReviews describes the odds for each brother or sister of an affected person. If both parents carry one broken copy, each sibling has a 25% chance of being affected. Each has a 50% chance of being a carrier, and a 25% chance of neither. Think of it as two coin flips, one from each parent.

GeneReviews advises checking at-risk siblings in infancy. Doctors use the family’s known variant plus a triglyceride test. It also suggests a routine lipid panel for close relatives who may be carriers. Testing relatives in a family step by step, once one person’s result is known, is called cascade testing. A genetic counselor can plan the order.

Talking with family

Blame does not help. A simple message works well. Share that your triglycerides are high and that genes may play a part. Then suggest that relatives ask their own doctor about a blood test. This shares useful news without pressure. A genetic counselor can help you plan what to say.

Genetic discrimination laws

Many readers worry about insurance. The rules differ between the US and Canada.

Law	What it protects	What it does not cover
US GINA (2008)	Health insurance and most jobs; insurers cannot use genetic information for coverage or price	Life, disability and long-term-care insurance
Canada Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (2017)	No one can require a genetic test or its results to provide services or sign a contract	Health care providers and researchers are exceptions

In the US, the job rules under GINA are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Some states add more protection.

There is one more key point. A measured triglyceride level is not a genetic test under the Canadian Act’s definition. A blood fat result is a regular medical finding. Before a genetic test, ask a genetic counselor how results may affect life or disability insurance.

Section recap: In FCS, each sibling of an affected person has a 1 in 4 chance of being affected, while polygenic risk calls for simpler family lipid checks. GINA and Canada’s law protect many uses of genetic results, but not all, so ask a counselor before testing.

Frequently asked questions

Do high triglycerides mean pancreatitis will happen?

Not necessarily. In a large Danish study, people with levels of 443 mg/dL or more had pancreatitis at about 1 in 1,000 per year. Risk rises much more at extreme levels and in FCS. Ask your doctor how urgent your level is.

Will children inherit high triglycerides from a parent?

With the common polygenic form, children may share some risk genes and family habits. A lipid panel through their doctor is a sensible step. With FCS, a genetic counselor can explain the odds for siblings and children.

Can a genetic result affect health or life insurance?

In the US, GINA bars health insurers from using genetic information. It does not cover life, disability or long-term-care insurance. In Canada, the 2017 Act limits requiring or using genetic test results in contracts. Check with a genetic counselor before testing.

Can an employer find out or use a genetic result?

GINA protects against genetic discrimination in most US jobs. In Canada, no one can make you take a genetic test or share results as a condition of a contract. Your lipid panel itself is not a genetic test under the Canadian definition.

Is a second opinion worth getting?

Yes, if your levels stay very high, you have had pancreatitis, or treatment is not working. A lipid clinic or a certified genetic counselor can review your case. A second opinion is a normal part of care, not a sign of distrust.

Summary

• High triglycerides are usually polygenic: many small gene effects plus diet, alcohol, weight, diabetes and medicines.
• The rare FCS form explains only about 1 to 5 in 100 severe cases. The Dron figures come from Caucasian patients only.
• For most people, the main concern is heart risk. Drug trials that lower triglycerides show mixed heart results.
• Pancreatitis risk rises sharply at very high levels, especially 1,000 mg/dL (11.3 mmol/L) or more.
• A 23andMe Triglycerides report is a likelihood estimate, not a diagnosis, and does not test for FCS.
• Olezarsen and plozasiran are approved for FCS in the US and Canada. Only olezarsen is approved in the US for severe high triglycerides.
• Your blood level guides care. Bring your results to your doctor, a lipid specialist or a genetic counselor.

For related topics, see the Metabolic and Hematologic Genetic Diseases category.

This article is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for advice from a licensed physician, board-certified medical geneticist, or board-certified genetic counselor. For any decisions about testing, treatment, or care, consult a qualified clinician. In emergencies, call 911.

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13. US FDA (Drugs@FDA / openFDA drugsfda, approval letters and prescribing information) and Health Canada (Drug Product Database and Notice of Compliance database, Product Monographs), records retrieved 2026-10-07. Regulatory records: Tryngolza (olezarsen) NDA 218614 / DIN 02563886 and Redemplo (plozasiran) NDA 219947 / DIN 02564327. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/appletter/2026/218614Orig1s004ltr.pdf ; https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2026/218614s004lbl.pdf ; https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2025/219947s000lbl.pdf ; https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/info?lang=eng&code=106662 ; https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/info?lang=eng&code=106703
14. Burnett JR, Hooper AJ, Hegele RA. GeneReviews (University of Washington, Seattle; hosted by NCBI/NLM), initial posting 1999-10-12, updated 2026-07-23. NBK1308; PMID 20301485. Lipoprotein Lipase Deficiency. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1308/
15. National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH), ‘Genetic Discrimination’ policy page (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008); and Government of Canada Justice Laws Website, Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, S.C. 2017, c. 3 (assented to 2017-05-04; act current to 2026-09-21). Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA, US, 2008) / Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (Canada, S.C. 2017, c. 3). https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genetic-Discrimination ; https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/G-2.5/page-1.html
16. 23andMe, ‘Health Predisposition reports’ page for clinicians (company page, accessed 2026-10-07). 23andMe Genetic Reports for Clinicians: Health Predispositions – Triglycerides (polygenic report). https://www.23andme.org/clinicians/genetic-reports/health-predispositions/

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Last updated: 2026-10-07

Author: Yu Mizuno (Editor-in-Chief, non-physician), GeneLumen editorial team. Editor: Yu Mizuno, a research editor who is not a physician. This article brings together 16 published sources (tier 1 = 10, tier 2 = 5, tier 4 = 1). They include NIH resources (MedlinePlus, NHGRI and GeneReviews), FDA and Health Canada records, and ACC/AHA and Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines.

This article is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice from a licensed physician, board-certified medical geneticist, or board-certified genetic counselor. In emergencies, call 911 (US/Canada) or 119 (Japan).

🇯🇵 For readers in Japan — a separate Japanese edition written for Japan’s healthcare system (not a translation): https://genelumen.com/ja/ja-metabolic-hematologic-genetic/high-triglycerides-genetics