The Future of Nutrition Research Methods and Effective Publishing Strategies

Author: Holly Giles

Speakers: Professor Martin Kohlmeier

Panellists: Professor Sumantra Ray, Dr Kathy Martyn, Wanja Nyaga

Reviewers: Sarah Armes, Sarah Anderson

Professor Martin Kohlmeier is the Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, a peer-

reviewed journal that publishes a wide range of articles focused on nutrition, clinical care, and public health. The journal aims to share new and relevant insights that can inform both research and clinical practice.

Recent articles published by the BMJ, highlighting the breadth of the journal, include:

• Vitamin D and Body Composition: “Interrelations of vitamin D status with adiposity and muscle mass in adult women”. This provides additional clarity on the impact of adiposity on vitamin D status in obese adults (Amr, R., 2025).

  
  

• Menstrual Hygiene in Adolescents: “Effects of behavioural change communication on menstrual hygiene practices among urban school adolescent girls: a pilot study”. This increases global awareness and understanding of what is occurring with regards to hygiene and behaviour in adolescent girls in Bangladesh. This quantitative information can increase support to young women with regards to menstrual needs globally (Saleh, F., et al. 2023).

  
  

• Calcium and Sleep: “Association between calcium intake and sleep quality: a systematic review”. The journal has also published a number of systematic reviews surrounding COVID-19 infection and the factors influencing COVID-19 outcomes. These serve as a summary of the literature, to synthesise important information and guide future action (Isoda, A., et al. 2025).

The BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health journal also publishes ‘Practice Patterns’ to guide practitioners on challenges and tasks relating to a specific clinical practice, and an outline of the current evidence for this practice. These are designed to help healthcare professionals improve decision-making and apply best practices in real-world settings.

The future of nutrition research for the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health:

1. Everybody is different – Research is needed on different populations and demographics to better understand population health. Suspected nutritional effects may be substantiated when analysing data by specific demographic categories, such as sex, ethnicity, genotypes and lifestyle.

   
   

2. Everything is connected with everything – Health, exercise, nutrition, and wellbeing are all interconnected and affected by a combination of the genome, microbiome and metabolome. The interplay between these needs to be considered for overall health and wellbeing.

One example of a future focus for the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health is precision nutrition. This is defined as the use of genetic or other molecular markers to predict the likely response to a nutrition intervention and to plan lifestyle and treatments accordingly. This has the potential to link findings from different domains and improve clinical practice, by tailoring treatments to a predicted response. An example of this can be seen in salt sensitivity for reducing blood pressure control.

To conclude, precision nutrition is predicted to be a key focus of the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health in coming years to better understand the interplay between factors and the significant consequences this can have on clinical practice, treatment plans, and population health.

References:

Amr, R., 2025. Interrelations of vitamin D status with adiposity and muscle mass in adult women. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, 8(1).

Saleh, F., Ahmed, K.R., Khatun, T., Roy, N., Uddin, S. and Kabir, M.R., 2023. Effects of behavioural change communication (BCC) on menstrual hygiene practices among urban school adolescent girls: a pilot study. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, 6(2), p.416.

Isoda, A., Kiriya, J. and Jimba, M., 2025. Association between calcium intake and sleep quality: a systematic review. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health.