NUTRITION AND COMPREHENSIVE CARE FOR WOMEN AGED 45 AND OVER: A THEORETICAL MODEL OF COMPREHENSIVE NUTRITIONAL CARE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Abstract

This article problematizes the predominant approaches to nutritional care for women aged 45 years and older within Primary Health Care, considering the theoretical limits that shape its organization. Although nutrition is recognized as a relevant dimension of women’s health care, a rationality centered on risk regulation and the correction of metabolic parameters remains prevalent. The study aims to propose a Theoretical Model of Integral Nutritional Care in Primary Health Care for this group. It is a theoretical investigation of an analytical and propositional nature, grounded in a critical review of the literature and articulated with references from public health and the ethics of care. The analytical path comprised the identification of the limits of the normative-prescriptive model, the systematization of conceptual foundations, and their organization into four interdependent axes: territoriality and longitudinality of care; recognition of bodily transformations as vital processes; ethical and relational dimension; and overcoming the exclusive centrality of risk. The proposed model broadens the interpretative horizon of nutritional care by situating clinical parameters within a more comprehensive understanding of life and the concrete conditions of women followed in Primary Health Care, offering a conceptual framework to support future research and to qualify the debate in the field of public health nutrition.