It’s hard to imagine that a high fat diet can directly result in too much fat in the blood. But one picture is worth a thousand words.

A member of staff at Yichang People’s Hospital presents a test tube of blood from the man surnamed Liu. Nearly half of the blood sample floats to the top like oil. (Photo/Shi Gang)

What you're looking at is a test tube that was filled with blood drawn from a man surnamed Liu, who is in his forties and lives in Yichang, Hubei province.

He went to Yichang People’s Hospital for treatment because of intolerable abdominal pain after “Golden Week”, also known as the seven-day holiday for National Day.

The doctor asked him to have a blood test. Oil-like stuff in the blood floated to the top of the tube just a few minutes after the blood was taken. The blood test result is surprising, showing Liu’s blood triglyceride level to be five times higher than normal.

An emergency room doctor at the hospital said that a high fat diet can result in too much fat in the blood. Liu said that he was diagnosed with pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). The doctor told him his illness was brought on by a high-fat, high-protein diet all the way through the holiday.

According to the doctor, the number of patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis has increased in recent years. In this regard, the doctor warns that too much alcohol, overeating and other bad eating habits are major contributing factors in chronic, degenerative diseases such as type 2 diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease, stroke, cancer, low T cell count, and candidiasis to name a few.