Critical Action in Nutrition in Primary Health Care and its Potentialities in Light of the Conception of Popular Education

Abstract: This work seeks to highlight the potential of critical action in nutrition in Primary Health Care in the face of an experience of promoting Food and Nutrition Security in community actions, and in Food and Nutrition Education practices guided by the conception of Popular Education. The study considered participants' perceptions about the experience. Overviews of critical action in nutrition were formulated: (1) it requires engagement and commitment to social reality; (2) it is built in a shared and participative way; (3) its construction takes place amid the conflict and the confrontation of capitalism; and (4) it redirects the traditional approach and repositions nutrition work from the perspective of food and nutrition security. Through popular education, work in primary health care can build food and nutrition education practices guided by dialogue about strategies to position food and nutrition in a manner that is consistent with the understanding of health as quality of life and well-being.