ENADE Nutrição key terms

Brazil's public health system, organized under the 1988 Constitution around universality, integrality, and social participation, with decentralized management shared among federal, state, and municipal governments and free care at the point of use.

The doctrinal principles of universality, integrality, and equity, together with organizational directives such as decentralization, regionalization, hierarchy, and popular participation, that structure how Brazilian public health services are planned and delivered.

The principle of allocating resources and care according to need rather than uniformly, so that groups facing greater social or biological disadvantage receive proportionally more attention and achieve fairer health outcomes.

The social, economic, cultural, environmental, and behavioral conditions in which people live and work, which shape exposure to risk and access to care and explain much of the inequality in health outcomes between populations.

The first level of contact between users and the health system, delivered by multidisciplinary teams in a defined territory, emphasizing longitudinal care, coordination of referrals, and actions aimed at promotion, prevention, and basic treatment.

The Brazilian model for reorganizing primary care around teams assigned to registered households in a territory, including community health workers, with shared responsibility for health promotion, disease prevention, and follow-up of families over time.

A multidisciplinary team, including nutritionists, that supports primary care teams through matrix support, shared case discussion, joint consultations, and continuing education, without replacing the reference team responsible for the territory.

The participation of citizens and organized groups in setting priorities, monitoring spending, and overseeing health services, exercised mainly through health councils and conferences at municipal, state, and national levels.

The realization of the right to adequate food, meaning regular and permanent access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets dietary needs and cultural preferences, without compromising other essential needs.

Limited or uncertain access to adequate food, classified in levels ranging from worry about running out of food to reduced quality or quantity of diet, and to actual hunger, measured in Brazil by a standardized household scale.

The entitlement of every person to feed themselves with dignity, which obliges the state to respect, protect, and fulfill access to food and makes public policies on food subject to accountability and social oversight.

Continuous collection, analysis, and use of information on food consumption and nutritional status of populations and groups, intended to guide decisions, trigger interventions, and monitor the effect of nutrition policies over time.

Brazilian federal policy that sets guidelines for food and nutrition actions within the public health system, addressing malnutrition, obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, food and nutrition education, and promotion of adequate and healthy eating.

Official document that translates nutrition science into practical recommendations, prioritizing fresh and minimally processed foods, limiting ultra-processed products, and emphasizing cooking, commensality, and the cultural dimensions of eating.

A system that groups foods by the extent and purpose of industrial processing into in natura or minimally processed, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods, used to relate diet patterns to health outcomes.

Industrial formulation made mostly from substances extracted or derived from foods, with little or no whole food, typically containing additives and characterized by high palatability, long shelf life, and association with poorer diet quality.

Systematic process of obtaining and interpreting anthropometric, biochemical, clinical, and dietary information to identify nutritional status, estimate risk, and support the planning and monitoring of nutrition interventions.

Measurement of body size and proportions, such as weight, height, circumferences, and skinfolds, used to estimate body composition and classify nutritional status when compared with appropriate reference values.

A ratio of weight in kilograms to the square of height in meters, used as a screening indicator of nutritional status in adults and, with age-specific reference curves, in children and adolescents.

A graphic reference showing the distribution of anthropometric measures by age and sex, used to plot a child's measurement as a percentile or z-score and to judge growth adequacy against a reference population.

A standardized score expressing how many standard deviations a measurement lies from the median of a reference population, allowing comparison across ages and sexes and classification of nutritional status in children.

Method for assessing food intake, such as a 24-hour recall, food record, or food frequency questionnaire, each with distinct recall periods and sources of error, chosen according to the study aim and population.

Dietary assessment method in which the individual reports everything consumed during the previous day, often repeated on nonconsecutive days to estimate usual intake, relying on memory and interviewer skill.

Instrument that asks how often listed foods or food groups were consumed over a defined period, used to rank individuals by habitual intake and to study diet-disease associations in epidemiological research.

The relationship between energy consumed from food and energy expended through basal metabolism, physical activity, and thermogenesis, whose positive or negative difference over time drives weight gain or loss.

The sum of basal or resting metabolic rate, the thermic effect of food, and energy spent on physical activity, estimated by equations, indirect calorimetry, or activity records to plan energy intake.

The amounts of energy and nutrients required to maintain health and support growth, estimated from reference values such as average requirement, recommended intake, and tolerable upper intake level for a population group.

The proportion of a nutrient consumed that is absorbed and available for physiological use, influenced by food matrix, chemical form, inhibitors, enhancers, and individual factors such as gastrointestinal health.

The effect of food components on drug absorption, metabolism, or excretion, or of drugs on nutrient intake, absorption, and status, relevant to prescribing diets and monitoring patients on long-term medication.

Provision of nutrients by oral, enteral, or parenteral routes to prevent or treat malnutrition, requiring indication, calculation of needs, choice of access, monitoring of tolerance, and management of complications.

Delivery of nutrients directly into the gastrointestinal tract through a tube or catheter, used when oral intake is insufficient but the gut functions, with risks including aspiration, diarrhea, and tube displacement.

Administration of nutrients intravenously, bypassing the digestive tract, indicated when enteral feeding is impossible or insufficient, and requiring sterile preparation and close metabolic and infectious monitoring.

A planned investigation of the distribution and determinants of health conditions in populations, with designs such as cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies that differ in temporality and measures of association.

A measure comparing the incidence of an outcome in an exposed group with that in an unexposed group, estimated in cohort studies and interpreted as how many times more likely the outcome is among the exposed.

A measure comparing the odds of exposure among cases with the odds among controls, commonly estimated in case-control studies and used as an approximation of relative risk for rare outcomes.

A set of educational practices that build autonomy and critical thinking about food, combining nutrition knowledge with cooking skills, culture, and everyday context to support healthy and sustainable eating habits.

Mandatory declaration of nutrient content and ingredients on packaged foods, intended to inform consumer choice, with rules on serving sizes, units, and formats that vary according to national regulation.

Procedures and conditions required in food services and industry to ensure safety, covering water quality, hygiene of handlers and surfaces, temperature control, and pest prevention, documented and subject to inspection.

A systematic food safety system that identifies biological, chemical, and physical hazards, establishes control points with limits, and defines monitoring and corrective actions to prevent unsafe food from reaching consumers.

Illnesses caused by consuming food or water contaminated with pathogens, toxins, or chemicals, investigated through clinical and epidemiological data and prevented by hygienic handling, adequate cooking, and safe storage.