Announcements

1. Congratulations on winning the Nutrients 2026 Best Paper Award! Could you please briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
Absolutely. My name is Dr. Jose Antonio. I am a professor at Nova Southeastern University in the Department of Health and Human Performance, and I am also the Chief Executive Officer of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

2. Could you introduce the key focus and main findings of your award-winning paper?
The genesis of the paper was that, if you go back 20 or 30 years, there was very much an anti-supplement standpoint in most academic societies. Fast forward to 2026, and I think that has changed quite a bit. We wanted to write a paper looking at the supplements that have the most supporting data, including creatine monohydrate, beta-alanine, nitrates, caffeine, and protein.
The main point was to show that there are dietary supplements that have value for sports, but also potentially for general health and well-being. Non-scientists are often exposed to a lot of negative messages about supplements, when in fact there are several very good supplements that I think athletes and the general population can use.

3. What research topics in the field of sports nutrition supplements interest you today, and what do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
My research team works on a wide variety of topics. We have done quite a bit of research on energy drinks, basically comparing caffeine with energy drinks containing an equal amount of caffeine and with a control or placebo drink.
We are also doing some work on creatine, looking at its effects on the extraocular muscles—the muscles of the eye. Of course, we are always interested in studying ergogenic aids and anything that may enhance athletic or human performance. That is something my research team and I continue to have a strong interest in.

4. We are glad that you chose to submit your work to Nutrients. Do you have any suggestions on how we could better support researchers or improve our editorial process?
That is an interesting question because I have been an Editor-in-Chief of a journal for over 20 years. I would say the best way to support the editorial process is to support the review process. One of the most difficult aspects of scientific publishing today is getting reviewers. The volume of scientific papers submitted to journals is so high that it can be extremely difficult to find people to review manuscripts. Providing waivers or other support to reviewers can therefore be a big help.
In terms of supporting researchers, another important issue is helping scientists in developing countries who may not have the same financial resources as researchers in countries such as the United States, the UK, Canada, or Australia. Finding ways to help those researchers with publication costs would be very helpful.
I also think the journal could publicize its awards more. I was surprised to discover during our conversation how many awards Nutrients offers, including the Young Investigator Award and Travel Award. I think many researchers may simply not know that these opportunities are available.

5. As the winner of this award, is there something you would like to express, or someone you wish to thank most?
When you try to write an article or paper that is this extensive, you really need a team. If you go back 30 or 40 years, you often saw single-author publications, but that is rare now.
My team included PhD students Cassie Evans, Flavia Pereira, and Jose Rojas, who helped quite a bit with the paper. Since then, two of them have received their PhDs, while one is still a PhD student. Jason Curtis, who is a faculty member at Belmont University in Tennessee, also contributed significantly.
If you have a good team working with you, it is fun to write these papers, and it is rewarding when you receive something like a Best Paper Award. I was actually surprised that we won the award, so it was certainly very nice to receive that recognition.

6. From the perspective of a field expert, what advice on supplements can you give to our general readers who are looking to improve their athletic performance or overall health?
This is probably one of the most common questions I get. If you want to learn more about this field and you are not necessarily an expert, the important question is where you should go to get reliable information. To me, perhaps the best approach is to look at scientific journals. I would recommend the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (JISSN) first, followed by Nutrients.
With artificial intelligence, you can also ask AI to simplify scientific information. For example, you could take an article discussing the top five supplements we recommend and ask AI to explain it in a way that is understandable to someone in high school or college. I think one of the benefits of AI is that it can simplify this material so that the average non-scientist can find it useful.
Scientists often communicate the work of other scientists, but we really need to get this information out to people who are not scientists. I think that is very important, and AI can help with that.