[Nutrition and cardiovascular diseases in elderly people]

Older age is a vulnerable stage from the nutritional point of view. Nutritional deficiencies are frequent and their consequences serious. That is why restricting diets are dangerous and must be considered with precaution. Though in developed countries the number of elderly people is increasing, the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in this age group is based by extrapolating the recommendations set for adults of minor age, and this may be not correct. High cholesterol and saturated fat intakes are recognized as harmful, but diet restrictions can lead to other nutritional deficiencies that can be damaging in relation to cardiovascular diseases. To improve the diet can be of great help in this sense. Diet restrictions concerning one or more foodstuffs must be introduced with caution and control, watching the nutritional status of the elderly person. It must be avoided that the fight against cardiovascular diseases may lead to other nutritional deficiencies with similar or worse sanitary repercussions.