This paper critically examines how the psychosocial dimension is dealt with in promoting healthy dietary practices. A search was carried out in Lilacs and in Medline's multipurpose mode, from 2000 to 2011, using the terms intervention, health promotion and psychosocial, and all terms relating to nutrition. It was observed that during this last decade, sociocognitive approaches and models of rational belief still predominated in this field. Intervention studies focusing on the individual prevailed, with less attention paid to the broader social context that produces dietary practices. It can be concluded that for healthy dietary practices to be promoted within the context of comprehensive healthcare, the debate about what can be called psychosocial needs to be broadened to incorporate the recent contributions from healthcare approaches based on human rights, with awareness of the multidimensionality of the health-disease-care process.
Health promotion; Psychosocial; Care; Dietary and nutritional education; Human rights
