The Importance of Food and Nutritional Education for Hypertension Control

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: SystemicArterial Hypertension (SAH) is a chronic pathology with high prevalence in Brazil and constitutes one of the main public health problems. This way, Food and Nutrition Education is part of an important line to promote healthy eating habits, being an indispensable tactic included in public policies in food and nutrition. OBJECTIVES: to identify the importance of food and nutrition education for the control of arterial hypertension. METHODS: a literature review was carried out in the LILACS, BVS and SciELO databases from 2008 to 2021, using the descriptors "Arterial Hypertension" and "Diet Hypertension", with the Boolean operator AND between them. 47 articles were found, according to the inclusion criterion abstracts available in full, published in Portuguese, English or Spanish, carried out in human beings, which addressed themes related to hypertension, food and nutrition education. Studies in which the approach to the theme was not effective were obliterated, thus only 25 articles were selected for the review. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: a study showed that among the nutritional factors that are associated with the high prevalence of SAH are the high consumption of alcohol, sodium and excess weight. Being associated with the consumption of potassium, calcium and magnesium, which would attenuate the progressive increase in blood pressure levels with age. Another analysis pointed out, as one of the results of the educational action, a growing and complex degree of learning, contributing to the construction of the participants' knowledge, as well as stimulating social interaction as something important for the prevention of diseases. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: in view of what was explained, it was possible to observe that therapeutic intervention and control of SAH requires changes in behavior aimed