[The role of nutrition in the development of circulatory system diseases]

In the paper the authors synthetically discuss the aetiology and pathogenesis and point to the possibilities of prevention of one of the most important groups of diseases developing as the result of faulty nutrition--circulatory system diseases. In the first part the epidemiology is discussed of the system's diseases--ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular diseases--stressing the extent of the health problem caused by them--over 50% of deaths each year are due to these diseases. Then, the main cause is discussed of the development of cardiovascular system diseases, that is atherosclerosis. The risk factors are characterized in which nutrition plays an essential role - blood level of cholesterol, its content in low (LDL) and high (HDL) density lipoproteins, triglyceride level, content of saturated fatty acids in diet. Nutritional preventive factors are briefly described--mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, cellulose. The beneficial effect of increased fish consumption is stressed. The last part deals with arterial hypertension as the disease of the vascular system and as the risk factor of ischaemic heart disease. The attention is paid to the necessity of changes in nutrition mode--increase of the supply of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids with predominance of the former, decrease of the supply of saturated fatty acids, salt, ensuring of adequate supply of antioxidant vitamins and cellulose. In the paper it is stressed that the modern state of knowledge, used in practice may significantly decrease in Poland, through nutrition, the epidemic of circulatory system diseases similarly as it has been done in other countries.