Most of the first RDA scientists were women

Of the 43 scientists listed as contributing information for the initial Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) values in 1941, 25 were women, according to an historical account by Alfred Harper. That was in addition to the women who served on the RDA panel.Lydia Roberts served as chair of the Food and Nutrition Board committee that was to produce the initial set of RDAs. In overseeing the work of this committee, which developed the process by which the recommendations were established, Roberts made a major contribution, Harper wrote. “She emphasized throughout the necessity for a sound scientific basis for the allowances.”