HEALTHY EATING IN THE PRESS: using Morin-Chartier's content analysis in a Brazilian newspaper

This paper evaluates if Morin-Chartier's content analysis, when adapted to Portuguese, can successfully be applied to texts on health and diet published in a Brazilian newspaper. This is a cross-section study. The texts were collected from the Brazilian newspaper O Dia between January 2014 and July 2015. Texts written on the subject of health and diet were analyzed, and specific software was used to evaluate how often they appeared in various categories. The method demonstrably categorizes and classifies different subjects within a single text, and thus helping to minimize any errors. A total of 1.668 information units were extracted from a collection of 341 journalistic texts. These information units focused on the effects foods have on the body and recommendations for which foods to consume. Most of these foods were in natura but there were some ultra-processed as well. The texts are taken from the Brazilian press, and the sources, when identified, are specialists on the subject. The texts are written with the intent to promote health.