Abstract
We try to discuss the articulation between research and extension within the extension project “Nutrition and the Elderly”, carried out by the Nutrition Institute at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), which develops several individual and collective activities organized in four main branches: (a) individual and personalized nutritional aid; (b) individual nutritional evaluation; (c) research about feeding behavior: culture, aging and health; (d) educational practices: development of methodologies. For this purpose, we take Nogueira’s11 ideas on extension as a two-way relation between university and society which allows the elaboration of a praxis on academic knowledge; Canguilhem’s concepts on science and technique, based on his discussions on Medicine and the Health area; and Foucault’s theoretical references concerning knowledge and his debates on the Human Sciences. We identified some important limitations that require new viewpoints, mainly the need for taking note, recording all we do. We create new knowledge, new techniques that are still unveiled. Many factors determine these limits. Individual and institutional actions must be implemented to overcome these limits that, in our opinion, characterize to some degree extension activities at UERJ and maybe in Brazil.
nutrition programmes; aging; teaching; applied research; ambulatory care