To think about Nutrition and to fight the misinformation

Pedro Graça 28/08/2019

To think about Nutrition and to fight the misinformation – a tribute to the memory of Emilio Peres

The Nutrition School of Porto (or The Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of Oporto University – FCNAUP) inherited an own thinking way. We think about Nutrition without ever forgetting foods and the people who produce them. Moreover, we think about those who would like to eat better but nevertheless have no access to quality foods, because either a lack of money or a lack of time or even knowledge.

This capacity of thinking the world through food is crucial among the nutritionists from FCNAUP and means a heritage from the “founder fathers”, who back in 1976 had the boldness and art to create the first modern Nutrition School in Portugal. In addition, it became a place where since then, the deeper technical knowledge, the social sensitivity and ethics are mixed and established as the third mission of our school. It means that when we decided to create the first place of a nutrition faculty exclusively dedicated to reflect upon the state of food and nutrition in Portugal; and taken this into account, a tribute has to be made, to one of the master founders, who throughout his life, either academically or professionally, made sure to publicize and popularize the Nutrition Sciences.

Currently this purpose is much more necessary. Back in the days where the first years of FCNAUP took place, most of the population did not have the scientific information about what to eat; today we are dealing with an excessive amount of information that keeps on being of bad quality and misleading, leading to misinformation. On the other hand, the important information remains almost invisible and hard to access.

Times are changing, although the need to spread the science in an accessible way, such as internet, remains. But beyond internet and the social media, other challenge is approaching. Nowadays there are more than 4000 nutritionists in Portugal and thousands of health professionals, who are, not only interested in the topic but also anxious to communicate daily about nutrition, and therefore spreading those concepts among the population. In addition, these health professionals, journalists and other people are interested and need independent and updated sources of information about how to think and reflect about nutrition. That is our task. Through our professors, researchers and students, a critical and unique net will be created even at an international level, that will be validated by an Editorial Board that will also keep up with the production of new texts.

In this sense, a new goal from the faculty is accomplished; a faculty as a cultural melting pot, a place of health and a place of humanity.

Thank you to all the involved academics and readers that from now on constitute this thrilling community of critical thought that we intend to keep on growing in the “Pensar Nutrição”.