[Nutrition and primary care]

The dietary habits are a determining factor in the health status of the population and eating habits are a part both of the etiopathogenicity and of the treatment of the diseases with the greatest morbido-mortality in our current society. Primary care is the first level of contact between the individual and the National Health System, and as this integrates the promotion, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of health problems, eating habits and nutrition have to be included in the activities carried out by health care professionals in the global treatment of the individual and the community's health care problems. Even though most health care professionals in primary care recognize the importance of dietary treatment and advice in their daily practice, there are studies that indicate that only a third actually do so. There are several reasons for this situation, especially the scant knowledge of nutrition held by family practitioners despite the fact that their training in this area is included in the teaching program of the Family and Community Medicine specialization program; the lack of motivation, time and material resources to do this, and the lack of confidence in the individual ability of give the advice. One of the aspects to be noted in the tasks of the health care professional in primary care is that he or she must not only assess and rapidly treat any nutritional problem that he or she may detect, but he or she must also, given his or her strategic position in the National Health System, emphasize the task of prevention and give advice regarding healthy eating habits in order to decrease all those risk factors that are related to eating habits despite there not being any guidelines at present as to how to give dietary advice to make this effective over time. We have to note the great importance of carrying out activities, studies, and projects that increase the primary care physician's knowledge about nutrition, as this, in short, improves the global health of the population.