Article was written in cooperation with the Polish Diabetes Association, a member of the International Diabetes Federation.
Diet has always played a key role as a risk factor for chronic diseases. Since the second half of the 20th century, there have been major changes in the diet of Europeans. Traditional meals based largely on plants have been rapidly replaced by high-fat products with a significant animal content. A diet based on convenience foods and highly processed products can become monotonous. It is poor in fruit, vegetables and whole grain cereal products and, at the same time, there can be a lot of meals made up of meat dishes, fats, sugars and salt, i.e. foods that are high in energy density, low in nutritional value and low in fibre.