Nutrition Policy

Those acquired, especially, at the level of the curricular unit of Nutrition and Public Health, Nutrition and Community Health.

The teaching methodology adopted for the classes is based on the exposure of different themes and interaction with students. Students will also develop work that will allow them to acquire and consolidate skills in the formulation and implementation of food / nutrition policies.

Students in this curricular unit must acquire organizational, management and leadership skills that enable them to create and implement a set of actions in order to guarantee and promote the availability and access to certain foods with the aim of improving the nutritional status and promoting the health of the population.

At the end of this curricular unit, students must have acquired the following skills:

• Knowing how to collect and systematize the information obtained so that it is possible to carry out an adequate diagnosis of the food, nutritional and health situation of a population and of the various systems involved, capable of influencing consumption (production, distribution and regulation);

• Knowing how to carry out a correct analysis of the political system and the conditions that influence decision-making in terms of nutrition and food policies, locally and globally;

• Knowing how to formulate viable strategies in order to guarantee the integration of the various areas of the food system capable of conditioning eating behavior, promoting partnerships between them and an effective allocation of resources;

• Knowing how to design viable strategies in order to respect the social, demographic and economic specificities of the populations to which they are destined, with the aim of modifying eating behavior;

• Knowing how to formulate viable strategies, respecting equity, citizenship, well-being, sustainable development, waste reduction, reduction of disparities and social cohesion;

• Knowing how to develop and implement mechanisms for managing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of nutritional policies;

• Knowing how to respect ethical aspects in the formulation of policies in the food area.

Concepts in food / nutrition policy;

Critical analysis of the theoretical foundations necessary for the construction of food/nutrition policies;

Analysis of food / nutrition policies in the national and international context;

Planning and implementation of support systems that support decision-making within a food / nutrition policy;

Development of intersectoral nutritional/food policies, considering agricultural, environmental, social, economic, health and related policies, recognizing the associated ethical principles;

Planning, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of food / nutrition policies at regional, national and international levels.

NAO

Primary:

Paarlberg R. Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Nestle M. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. University of California Press, 2007.

Secondary:

Portugal. Ministério da Saúde. Direção-Geral da Saúde. PROGRAMA NACIONAL PARA A PROMOÇÃO DA ALIMENTAÇÃO SAUDÁVEL 2022-2030. Lisboa: Direção-Geral da Saúde, 2022.