The changing face of cerebrovascular disease.

Abstract

In the past there was a slow but steady decrease in mortality from cerebrovascular disease--the third largest killing disease--in many advanced countries, notably in the United States and Japan. Mortality, however, is rising in some countries, particularly in Bulgaria. Cerebrovascular mortality seems highest in moderately prosperous countries where the diet is largely vegetarian, but includes proteinaceous plants and oil seeds beside carbohydrates, tending to decrease in the most prosperous countries where a considerable proportion of the dietary intake is of animal origin. Hence the possibility that the disease is caused by one or more of the numerous plant toxins which most, if not all, plants produce to defend themselves against their predators and parasites. The geographical distribution of cerebrovascular disease seems best matched by that of the consumption of leguminous plants, notably soya beans.