Twenty years of the Postgraduate Program in Nutrition at the Federal University of Santa Catarina: analysis of dissertations and theses

Abstract

Objective To perform a descriptive analysis of the methodological characteristics of the dissertations and theses produced by the Postgraduate Program in Nutrition of the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Methods Bibliometric analysis of postgraduate dissertations and theses. The search for graduates was conducted until December 31, 2022, through queries to the Graduate Monitoring System and University Institutional Repository. Results A total of 323 dissertations and theses presented over the 20 years of the postgraduate program were reviewed. The majority was produced by nutritionists (89.0%, n=244). There was a predominance of the Dietary and Biochemical Study line related to nutritional status (47.0%, n=152), followed by the lines of Nutrition in Meal Production and Eating Behavior (27.9%, n=90) and Nutritional Diagnosis and Intervention in Collectivities (25.1%, n=81). The majority of studies were quantitative (79.0%, n=255) and observational (75.0%, n=244), investigating the adult and elderly population (41.0%, n=133), particularly the local population (78.0%, n=252). Among 30 central themes, the most researched were obesity (12.0%, n=38), methods and evaluation of food consumption (10.0%, n=34), functional foods and bioactive compounds (10.0%, n=33), food system, sustainability and food and nutritional security (8.0%, n=25) and nutritional therapy (7.0%, n=23). In the last five years, research has begun on new themes, such as Nutrition in neuroscience and sports, and meta-research in Nutrition. Conclusion The postgraduate program contributed to predominantly train nutritionists, developing studies on topics of interest to the science of Nutrition on a global scale. There is a greater local, regional and national vocation in the development of quantitative observational studies, especially with the adult and elderly population.