Challenges and perspectives for the promotion of adequate and healthy food in Brazil Desafios e perspectivas para a promoção da alimentação adequada e saudável no Brasil Desafíos y perspectivas para la promoción de una alimentación adecuada y saludable en Brasil

Healthy foods are becoming more and more important in the agenda of public policies; today, their promotion is included in a number of national policies and programs. On the other hand, the eating habits of Brazilians are far from what would be desirable over the different stages of life course and in all social and economic strata, and have worsened in the last decades. In addition, the increase of obesity and obesityand eating-related non-communicable chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure are quite significant. In this scenario, one should ask how to move forward in the development of effective public policies for the promotion of adequate and healthy foods in the country? To respond to this question, one should expand the analysis on eating to the contemporary context. For this purpose, we consider that there are five dimensions in relation to nourishment: human rights, biological (nutritional and sanitary aspects), sociocultural (system of values, relations of individuals and groups with food), economic (working relations established within the scope of the food systems, price of food), and environmental (forms of food production, commercialization, and use) 1. This idea is reflected in the definition of what is adequate and healthy food made by the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security: “the fulfillment of a basic human right, with assurance of permanent and regular access, in a socially just form, to a practice of eating that is adequate to the biological and social aspects of the individuals, in accordance with the life cycle and the special nutritional needs, based on local products. It should comply with the principles of variety, balance, moderation, pleasure (flavor), with the dimensions of gender and ethnicity, and with the forms of production that are environmentally sustainable, free of physical, chemical and biological contaminants, and of genetically modified organisms” 2. Thus, an effective response to the current food issue must include public policies that integrate health promotion, environmental sustainability, commitment with the assurance of rights and social justice. Within this perspective, the knowledge of the characteristics and operating dynamics of the agrifood systems is fundamental, including the Brazilian one 1. Some of them are highlighted here: (a) they are based on premises that are no longer applicable: stable climate, abundant water, cheap energy; (b) their products are food with non-nutritional components, such as agrotoxics, antibiotics, preservers and flavor enhancers, that have hazardous effects on health; (c) they degrade sustainable ecosystems due to their methods of food production, storage, transportation, and commercialization; (d) they replicate and deepen social inequalities in the access to land, water, energy and income; (e) despite