[Consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids by young hypertensive adults].

Background: A properly balanced diet is a key factor in preventing the development of diet-related diseases and may assist the pharmacological treatment of many conditions. Some studies indicate on relationship between consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and positive health outcomes. Aim: To evaluate sources in diet and frequency of consumption of PUFA by young adults suffering from arterial hypertension and to identify differences in PUFA and saturated fatty acids intake de-pending on gender, age, education, BMI, history of hypertension, BP values and the number of an-tihypertensive drugs used. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 100 hypertensive patients, 60 males and 40 females, aged 20 – 45 years (mean age 33.4±6.6 years), without concomitant diseases. Study tool constituted the self-reported questionnaire of food products intake, its frequency and intensity assessed during last one month period. The questionnaire involved 7 groups of typical food products, which were also divided into 2 baskets: “basket of 10 healthy” and “basket of 10 unhealthy” products.
Results: Patients more often consumed products containing saturated fatty acids than PUFA. In the study group dairy products and meat dominated the diet, especially in hypertensive men. Olive oil was the most popular healthy product consumed by patients (42% of responders). People living in the city ate more often fish and plant products than those from rural areas, but overall fish consump-tion was low – only 6 to 12% of patients consumed omega-3 rich fish at least once a week. Regard-less of gender, place of living, education and other clinical factors our hypertensive patients choose more products from the “unhealthy” than “healthy” basket in the last month.
Conclusion: Young people suffering from hypertension are characterized by unfavorable eating habits, especially low frequency of PUFA containing products consumption. Intensive educational programs to increase knowledge of young hypertensives about diet beneficial for health are still required.