About

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In 2011, I discovered a scientific commentary that would revolutionize my way of conceiving nutrition while I was writing my doctoral thesis at the University of Montreal. In his article, Carlos Augusto Monteiro proposed that food processing plays a determining role in the quality of food and the state of human health. I was convinced of the proposition, because during my thesis, I had reached similar conclusions on sweet foods. For the anthropologist in me, food processing is a fundamentally human practice and defining for humanity.

 

At the end of the summer of 2011, I left to join Carlos for a postdoctoral research internship within his team at the University of São Paulo. During this internship, I participated in the development of the NOVA classification which makes it possible to classify and study foods and beverages according to the type of food processing. Based on NOVA, we have conducted research in Canada and then internationally demonstrating that calorie intake from ultra-processed products is a summary indicator of diet quality, while healthy eating is based on cooking fresh and minimally processed foods.

 

In 2014 we used this work to develop the new Brazilian food guide which innovated in its holistic advice based on cooking and commensality. In 2015, I returned to Canada to apply and share the NOVA system which, I believe, supports the change of practices and the development of healthy, inclusive and sustainable food systems. Since 2016, I have been teaching in the Department of Nutrition at the University of Montreal and conducting research based on the NOVA classification in Canada and in the regions of Latin America and West Africa.   

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