About Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin

Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin

Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin is a German-language medical journal for nutritional medicine, published in Stuttgart by the Georg Thieme Verlag. Founded in 1976 and appearing six times a year, it carries the subtitle "Zeitschrift für Stoffwechselforschung, klinische Ernährung und Diätetik" — journal for metabolic research, clinical nutrition and dietetics — and operates under the motto "Aus der Forschung in die Praxis!" (from research into practice). The journal publishes original papers, reviews and CME-certified training articles, and serves as the official organ of seven professional societies and associations across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, making it the central specialist publication for nutritional medicine in the German-speaking world.

Overview

Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin addresses the interdisciplinary field of nutritional medicine: physicians specializing in nutritional medicine, dietitians, oecotrophologists (nutrition scientists), researchers in metabolism and clinical nutrition, and the nurses and care professionals involved in nutritional care. Nutritional medicine sits at the intersection of internal medicine, surgery, intensive care, pediatrics and public health — wherever disease and nutrition interact, from malnutrition in hospitals and nursing homes to obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and the nutritional management of critically ill patients. The journal's readership reflects that breadth, spanning the clinic, the practice, the research laboratory and the counseling office.

The editorial program follows the "from research into practice" promise. Original papers from metabolic research, clinical nutrition and dietetics bring readers up to date with the science; CME articles offer certified continuing education, allowing readers to test their knowledge and collect CME points; practice-oriented information supports diet counseling; research news, society communications, congress reports and professional dates complete the profile. The journal thus serves three functions at once: a scientific outlet for researchers, a training medium for practitioners, and a communication platform for the professional societies that have adopted it as their official organ.

Published in German under a hybrid model — subscription access combined with open-access options — the journal appears six times per year (ISSN print 0341-0501, online 1438-9916) with a sold circulation of around 4,200 copies. Its institutional anchoring in the German, Austrian and Swiss nutrition societies gives it a reach and authority that a purely commercial journal could not command: for the members of seven associations, it is the journal of their professional community.

History

The journal was founded in 1976 by the Thieme-Verlag in Stuttgart, at a time when nutritional medicine was establishing itself as a distinct medical discipline in Germany. The post-war decades had transformed nutrition from a matter of food security into a medical specialty: the rise of parenteral and enteral nutrition, the recognition of hospital malnutrition as a clinical problem, and the growing burden of obesity and metabolic disease created a field that needed its own scientific forum. Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin provided it.

The first two editors-in-chief shaped the journal's formative decades: Reinhold Kluthe led it from 1976 to 1997, followed by Günther Wolfram from 1997 to 2010. Under their editorships, the journal accompanied the professionalization of the field — the founding and growth of the German Society for Nutritional Medicine (DGEM), the development of structured training in nutritional medicine, and the establishment of nutrition teams in hospitals. The current editor-in-chief is Stephan C. Bischoff, a leading figure in German nutritional medicine.

Over the years, the journal became the official organ of an expanding circle of societies: the DGEM in Germany, the Austrian Working Group for Clinical Nutrition (AKE), the Swiss Society for Nutritional Medicine and Metabolism (GESKES/SSNC), the German Academy for Nutritional Medicine (DAEM), the Professional Association of German Nutritional Physicians (BDEM), the Association of Dietitians — German Federal Association (VDD), and the Professional Association of Oecotrophology (VDOE). This multi-society anchoring, unusual among medical journals, reflects the interdisciplinarity of the field: nutritional medicine belongs to no single specialty, and its journal belongs to the community of all its practitioners. In 2026, the journal reached its 51st volume — half a century of continuous publication.

Coverage and Content

Each issue delivers the journal's characteristic mix of science and practice. Originalarbeiten (original papers) present new research from metabolic research, clinical nutrition and dietetics — from basic mechanisms of nutrient metabolism to clinical trials of nutritional interventions. Übersichtsarbeiten (reviews) synthesize the state of knowledge on key topics, giving practitioners efficient access to fields they cannot follow in primary literature. CME-Artikel (continuing-education articles) provide certified training: readers work through the material and test their knowledge online, earning the CME points that German physicians must document.

Practice-oriented content addresses the counseling side of the profession: information for diet counseling, translating nutritional science into the conversations that dietitians and physicians conduct with patients. "Für Sie notiert" (noted for you) collects the latest research news in brief form. Society and association communications keep members informed about their organizations' activities, guidelines and positions. Kongressreferate (congress reports) distill the essential content of scientific meetings for those who could not attend, and the dates section lists upcoming events.

Thematically, the journal tracks the agenda of modern nutritional medicine: clinical malnutrition and nutritional screening, obesity and bariatric medicine, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, nutritional support in intensive care and oncology, micronutrients, the gut microbiome, and the growing field of personalized nutrition. Supplements — including the "Kompendium Ernährungsmedizin" and the "Praxis Report" series — extend the journal's reach into reference and practice formats.

Organization and Ownership

Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin is published by the Georg Thieme Verlag KG in Stuttgart, one of Germany's leading medical and scientific publishers, with a journal portfolio of around two hundred titles. The editor-in-chief is Stephan C. Bischoff, working with the publisher's professional editorial staff and an editorial board drawn from the nutritional-medicine community — the standard governance model for German medical society journals, in which academic editors guarantee scientific standards while the publisher manages production, distribution and the digital platforms.

The journal's unique organizational feature is its role as the official organ of seven societies and associations: the DGEM, AKE, GESKES/SSNC, DAEM, BDEM, VDD and VDOE. This gives the societies a shared publication platform and the journal a guaranteed core readership among their members, while the editorial independence of the journal is maintained under the editor-in-chief. The commercial model combines subscriptions — personal and institutional, print with online access — with open-access publication fees under the hybrid model and advertising from the nutrition, pharmaceutical and medical-nutrition industry. The CME business, built around the certified training articles and the Thieme CME portal, serves the mandatory continuing-education needs of physicians while generating training revenue.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is its Thieme e-journal platform, where subscribers access current issues and the archive of all issues published since 2000, with the online edition (ISSN 1438-9916) running since 2001. The eRef app extends access to mobile devices with offline reading, and the Thieme CME portal manages the certified training: readers complete the online tests linked to CME articles, earn points and track their continuing-education progress. The connect.thieme.com platform presents the journal's profile and submission options to prospective authors.

For a society journal, the digital channels also serve the member organizations: society communications, congress reports and professional dates reach members through the same platforms that deliver the science. The journal's content is discoverable through medical databases and the publisher's portals, bringing its articles to researchers beyond the subscriber base. After fifty years in print, Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin operates as a fully hybrid publication — the six print issues anchoring the reading habit and the society identity, the digital platforms delivering currency, training and archive access to the nutritional-medicine community across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.