Opportunities to advance implementation science and nutrition research: a commentary on the Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research

Abstract

Despite population-wide recommendations by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans and others to encourage health-promoting dietary patterns, the proportion of Americans following dietary recommendations remains low. The gaps in the adoption and integration of evidence-based dietary interventions, practices, programs, and policies (EBIs) into community and clinical settings signal the need to strengthen efforts in implementation science (IS) in nutrition research to understand and alleviate barriers to adopting and sustaining healthy dietary behaviors and practices. Equally important is the translation of this research into practice in a variety of settings and across the diversity of populations. Recognizing this need, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2020–2030 Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research calls for the expansion of IS as a key opportunity to advancing nutrition research. This commentary highlights three scientific opportunities to stimulate IS in nutrition research and provides examples for each opportunity. These include: (a) Advance consideration of implementation and dissemination early in the design of interventions to facilitate opportunities for equitable scale-up and sustainability of EBIs, (b) Develop and test strategies for equitable implementation of nutrition and diet EBIs in health care and community settings, and (c) Build and strengthen the infrastructure, capacity, and expertise needed to increase use of IS in clinical and community nutrition research to swiftly move the research into practice. By advancing the three opportunities identified in this commentary, the scientific community has the potential to advance the field of nutrition research and IS with the ultimate goal of improving public health.

NIH-supported implementation science and nutrition research: a portfolio review of the past decade

“…As nutrition and IS research become more transdisciplinary, we anticipate an increase in the number of relevant NIH-funded awards. The recent NIH commentary ( 10 ) identifies three scientific opportunities to stimulate IS in nutrition research in alignment with the 2020–2030 Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research, calling for including implementation and dissemination early in the intervention design, developing and testing strategies for equitable implementation of nutrition and diet evidence-based, and building and strengthening capacity and expertise needed to increase the use of IS in nutrition research.…”

“…The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2020–2030 Strategic Plan for Nutrition Research recognizes the innovative role that IS can play in advancing nutrition research and sets the priorities in the plan ( 9 ). A recent commentary by members of the NIH Implementation of Nutrition-related Programs, Practices, and Behaviors working group highlights opportunities to stimulate IS in nutrition research in alignment with this strategic plan across three areas: (a) advancing consideration of implementation and dissemination early in the design of interventions to facilitate opportunities for equitable scale-up and sustainability of evidence-based interventions, (b) developing and testing strategies for equitable implementation of nutrition and diet interventions in health care and community settings, and (c) building and strengthening the infrastructure, capacity, and expertise needed to increase use of IS in clinical and community nutrition research to swiftly move the research into practice ( 10 ).…”

“…We use the NIH definition of IS, which is the study of scientific methods that facilitate evidence-based research findings into practice and is inclusive of dissemination research ( 11 ). The goal of the analysis is to describe the extent, range, and nature of the funded NIH research in nutrition and IS in the past decade, identify research gaps, and consider how to support the opportunities outlined in the commentary ( 10 ).…”

Looking to the future: Agendas, directions, and resources for nutrition research

“…To achieve this, there must be cross-governmental strategic planning, leveraging technologies, an intersection of food production and supply chain, sustainability of food sources, an understanding of diet-related health disparities, data science, a coordination of cross-agency research priorities within nutrition, and the support of translational and implementation science. 19…”

“…Nicastro et al emphasized the importance of exploring ways to translate scientific findings into the clinical setting as a key priority in the design phase of study planning. 19 The strengthening of infrastructure, capacity, policy, and multidisciplinary expertise are needs to support the translation of research findings into practice. In the clinical setting, this may look like the development or routine review of evidence-based guidelines, development of standard operating procedures, or leveraging of a pragmatic study design when conducting research.…”