Roberta Larson Duyff, MS, RD, FADA, CFCS

Roberta Larson Duyff, MS, RD, FADA, CFCS, a nationally recognized food/nutrition expert, promotes the "great tastes of good health" to consumers of all ages.  As a media spokesperson, national speaker, writer and food industry/government consultant, Roberta supports her “power of positive nutrition” message with practical, science-based, great-tasting ways to eat for health.

As a national award-winning author, Roberta has written numerous consumer books, including the comprehensive American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide (third edition, 2006) and 365 Days of Healthy Eating from the American Dietetic Association (2004) with its flavorful recipes and active living tips.  Other consumer titles include Monthly Nutrition Companion, Food Folklore: Truths and Myths Behind the Foods We Eat, as well as 50 Ways to Lower Your Fat & Cholesterol with Tufts University School of Nutrition.  With her culinary interest, she also has been a guiding force behind and a contributor to the new American regional cookbook, American Dietetic Association Cooking Healthy Across America (2005).

As a regular featured columnist, Roberta writes on healthy eating for Today’s Health and Wellness magazine.  She has been a weekly columnist for the St. Louis Post Dispatch and her work and practical advice also has been published in many other national publications, including USA Today, Better Homes and Gardens, Cooking Light, Ladies' Home Journal, Living Fit, Parenting, Men’s Health, Allure, Shape, Self and other popular media.  Roberta often appears on national and regional TV (the “CBS Early Show,” “AM Northwest,” KSDK “Show Me St. Louis” and New York City FOX “Morning News”) and promotes her message through multiple-station satellite radio and TV tours and Internet Webcasts.

A sought-after national and international speaker, Roberta frequently speaks on consumer and child nutrition issues, culinary/nutrition trends and nutrition education to professional and consumer groups.  She was awarded the American Dietetic Association’s First Annual President’s Lecture, addressing lifelong learning.  As a national consultant to the food industry, she blends communication and culinary skills with nutrition expertise for consumer/marketing communications and recipe development.

Recognizing that the need for good nutrition starts early, Roberta has made significant contributions to food/nutrition education for youth.  She has authored many food and nutrition books for teens, including Nutrition and Wellness from Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. Roberta shares her positive nutrition message in books for children and teens including All Our Fruits and Vegetables, It’s a Sandwich, The Foods I Eat and The Secret of Orange Juice Falls, Nutrition & Wellness, Family Health, Growing Up Caring with the Kennedy Foundation and other textbooks.  She has written many nutrition education programs for USDA, including Nibbles for Health for parents of young children, yourSELF for preteens and The Power of Choice, an after-school nutrition preteen program, recently released online.  As co-developer and author, she produced the nationally distributed multicultural nutrition program for early childhood learning, The Foods I Eat...The Foods You Eat.  For educators, she has co-authored Nutrition, Health And Safety For Preschool Children as well as many other nutrition curriculum programs for government agencies and non-profit organizations.

A culinary leader, she is past National Chair, Food & Culinary Professionals/ADA, past Chair of the St. Louis Culinary Society, and is active with the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Les Dames d’Escoffier.  She has co-led the week-long Cruisin’ toward Wellness shipboard program for the public, blending cuisines of the ports visited into her culinary and healthy eating presentations.  With a passion for culinary travel, and viewing ethnic food as a means to cultural understanding, Roberta travels and speaks internationally seeking flavorful ways to eat for health.

Roberta received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, her master’s from Cornell University and studied further at Framingham State University and Semester at Sea in Asia, India and Africa.  She is a past Board member of the Society for Nutrition Education and past National Chairman of the Home Economists in Business (HEIB).  As a community volunteer, she works closely on international/intercultural youth exchange (AFS),) and has served as a food and nutrition advisor to community-based nutrition education efforts, including Head Start and Culinary Arts Committee for St. Louis (COCA).  Her work has received many awards, including the National Health Information Silver Award, ADA's President's Circle Award, Missouri’s Outstanding Dietitian, National HEIB of the Year, the National Presswomen’s Communications First Place Award, and the ADA’s prestigious Medallion Award.