BATON ROUGE — When it comes to discussions of good or bad cholesterol, triglycerides are often overlooked.

Triglycerides, the main kind of fat in your body, store extra energy from the food you eat.

"It's an energy source. It's like a little battery used for energy. But too many triglycerides can also cause heart disease," Mayo Clinic's Dr. Regis Fernandes said.

People who are overweight, in general, have high triglyceride levels and good cholesterol levels that are low.

"They may get heart disease not because their LDL is high, they get heart disease because the HDL is low and the triglycerides is high," Fernandes said.

And this is significant for people in their 30s and 40s.

"The most common form of atherosclerotic heart disease in young people is this type — where we see high triglycerides, low HDL. It's much more common than just high LDL cholesterol," Fernandes said.

So what can you do? Reducing simple carbohydrates, such as refined sugars and flours, can help lower your weight, improve your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. And you can back that up with exercise.

"One of the best ways to lower triglyceride levels is to exercise. Also, exercise helps to lose weight. And when you lose weight, your triglycerides improve a lot," Fernandes said.