Medicalization of food and nutrition: conceptual approach

Abstract

This study aimed to identify concepts and central themes of the medicalization of food and nutrition. To this end, a systematized search review following the Systematic-Search Flow method was conducted in seven databases, combining the keyword “medicali?ation” with nutrition*, diet*, food, nourishment and eat*. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 17 documents were selected to compose the analysis portfolio. The reading of these documents allowed us to think of categories, as follows: medicalization of food: devices to control the body and eating behavior; prevention devices and nutrition education programs; food as medicine and Personalized Nutrition. In all of them, it was possible to identify strategies through which food and nutrition were reduced to the biomedical view, disregarding other dimensions of eating. This reduction occurred through a) the prescription of behavioral norms and diets; b) preventive practices that moralize behaviors considered risky, causing stigmatization and blaming individuals for their diseases; c) the conception of food as if it were medicine; d) the individualized prescription of diets, according to Personalized Nutrition, compromising the understanding of eating from political, cultural, historical, and social aspects.

Keywords:
Medicalization; Food; Nutrition