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Department of Family Resources and Human Development, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2502, and
Department of Nutritional Science and Dietetics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0806
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed.
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INTRODUCTION |
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 TOP INTRODUCTION REFERENCES |
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Levertonwas born on March 23, 1908, in Minneapolis. She was the second child of Ernest Richard and Helen Ruth Mandeville, who had moved to Minnesota from their native Illinois because of Ernest's engineering career. After several years in Minnesota, the family then moved to Calgary, where Leverton's older sister Martha died at the age of 7. Martha's death was a tragedy, but the family was blessed several years later with a son Richard and a daughter Helen. Leverton's two younger siblings were born in Deadwood, South Dakota, where Ernest had moved his family to supervise the building of President Calvin Coolidge's summer lodge.
Leverton graduated from high school in Deadwood in 1924. The following summer, her family moved once more to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she began studying at the University of Nebraska. Leverton chose to study home economics for two specific reasons: She wanted to work in a woman's field, and she was drawn to the practical applications of the profession. Leverton excelled academically, and even as an undergraduate she had an adventurous spirit, made evident by the one semester she spent studying at the Merill Palmer School in Detroit, Michigan.
After earning her B.S. in home economics in 1928, Leverton became
employed as did most college-educated women of her day: she taught
in public schools. After teaching high school for two years in small
Nebraska towns, Leverton decided that she needed to further her
education. Knowing of the groundbreaking discoveries at the College of
Agriculture at the University of Arizona, Leverton moved to Tucson to
work with Dr. Margaret Cammack Smith. While pursuing her master's
degree, Leverton excelled in both human and animal nutrition
(Smith and Leverton 1934a
), which provided her with a
firm foundation for many years of research and teaching.
In 1931, Smith's laboratory determined that toxic amounts of fluorine
from drinking water led to mottled teeth (Smith and Leverton 1934b
). Leverton's master's thesis investigated whether
calcium and phosphorus also were involved in tooth mottling, which had
been occurring quite frequently in some Arizona communities. To gather
her data, Leverton moved to St. David, Arizona (63 miles southeast of
Tucson), for three weeks. During that time, she collected detailed
dietary data on 19 local children (Lantz et al. 1935
,
Leverton and Smith 1932
). Leverton's research showed
that the children's diets were not deficient in protein, calcium, or
phosphorus, and her thesis provided further evidence that high levels
of fluorine were responsible for mottled teeth.
After earning her M.S. in nutrition in 1932, Leverton moved to Illinois
to pursue her Ph.D. in nutrition in the Department of Home Economics at
the University of Chicago. Her outstanding work as a graduate student
was recognized, and the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs
awarded her with the Yardley Foundation Fellowship during her last year
of doctoral studies. Leverton worked in the laboratory of Dr. Lydia J.
Roberts, and her doctoral research focused upon women's iron status.
Leverton's bold research brought many answers about women's iron
needs to the medical community (Leverton 1938
,
Leverton and Roberts 1936
).
Leverton earned her doctorate in 1937 and immediately returned to her alma mater to become an assistant professor in the School of Home Economics at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The Nebraska Agricultural Experimental Station was seeking an innovative leader to foster human nutrition research on campus, and Leverton was the answer they were seeking. Although Leverton was charged with initiating human nutrition research, space was limited, and Leverton was given a small laboratory in the meat science building. At that time, not many researchers had both the competencies and the resources to conduct valid nutrition research using human subjects. Knowing her own potential, Leverton struggled with the university by urging them to construct a building specifically to house nutrition laboratories. That building—erected during her tenure at the university—was renamed in her honor as Ruth Leverton Hall in May 1978.
At the University of Nebraska, Leverton continued to study women's
iron status by testing the effect of diet on women's hemoglobin
levels. Her research with women who had given blood donations made
clear that dietary protein—and not iron alone—was crucial for iron
status to be restored (Leverton et al. 1944
);
consequently, Leverton urged women to add meat to their meals to ensure
ample protein intake. Leverton then went a step further and actually
provided pregnant women with a daily serving of meat to show its effect
in maintaining and improving hemoglobin and hematocrit (Leverton and McMillan 1946
). Later, Leverton went on to estimate
women's daily protein needs based upon the amount needed to maintain
their hematological values (Leverton et al. 1948
).
After Leverton found that protein was crucial for correcting
iron-deficiency anemia, her research began focusing on protein
metabolism, and for this work she is perhaps best known. At that time,
very little was known about the essential amino acids, and Leverton's
research—using human feeding studies—began to contribute important
findings to the literature. Initially, Leverton's laboratory
determined the interrelationships between meal patterns and intakes of
total energy and protein (Leverton and Gram 1949
,
Leverton et al. 1951
).
Leverton then proceeded to determine women's requirements for five of
the essential amino acids: threonine, valine, tryptophan,
phenylalanine, and leucine (Leverton et al. 1955
). Until
Leverton began her research, no one else had studied whether women's
needs for essential amino acids differed from men's (Rose 1949
). Leverton determined tentative requirements for these
essential amino acids by feeding her subjects a semi-purified diet,
which provided ample amounts of all the essential amino acids. After
maintaining nitrogen balance for at least 1 wk, the intake of each
amino acid of interest was reduced stepwise until each subject went
into negative nitrogen balance for at least 4 d. The smallest
amount needed to maintain nitrogen balance was regarded as that
individual woman's amino acid requirement (Leverton et al. 1955
).
Although she is well-known for her laboratory research, Leverton
fully realized that individuals ate foods and not specific nutrients.
Her role in Nebraska's Agricultural Experimental Station and the
financial burdens caused by World War II gave her incentive to study
college students' food choices and purchasing power. Leverton
collaborated with her colleagues at other land grant colleges in the
north central region to examine the dietary habits of college women.
Despite the war, their teamwork found that meat was a commonly chosen
food, and they also warned that college-aged women should not
increase their consumption of tea, coffee, and soft drinks because
these foods could displace milk in the diet (Reynolds et al. 1942
).
As part of this research, Leverton used Love Memorial Hall, a
cooperative dormitory housing almost 50 home economics students, as a
laboratory. The students in the residence hall were given an allowance
for groceries, and Leverton kept record of the foods purchased and
served in the hall's dining room. Faced with food rationing early in
the study, Leverton saw the average weekly food cost per person rise
from just $1.51 in 1942 to $4.53 in 1950. In her summary, Leverton
warned against spending money frivolously and recommended that
partially prepared foods should not be overused when funds for buying
foods are limited (Leverton and Ellison 1953
).
Despite her reputation as a leading nutrition scientist, Leverton is
remembered as a humble teacher, who was glad to spend time advising her
students. Leverton personally advised students who planned to become
dietitians, and she arranged internship experiences for undergraduate
juniors and seniors. As a mentor, Leverton carefully reminded her
students to be conscious of their own dietary and exercise habits so
that they would be able to lead by example (Leverton 1953
). In addition to inspiring her own students, Leverton
wrote a booklet Research as a Career, distributed by the
American Home Economics Association, which served to recruit students
across the United States into the nutritional sciences. Leverton also
served as the chair of the membership committee of the Nebraska
American Dietetic Association so that she personally could recruit more
women to become nutritionists.
During her 1940–1941 sabbatical, Leverton worked as a nutrition specialist in the Bureau of Home Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In Washington, D.C., Leverton served her country by working in the national defense program. For 9 mon, Leverton studied the food needs of different countries, assisted in planning food rations, and developed nutrition education materials for the federal government. Leverton was a member of a national advisory committee that met with the Quartermaster Corps of the Army to document food habits and food acceptance among Army members. During her sabbatical, she also taught a 6-wk summer course entitled Nutrition and National Defense at Syracuse University in New York.
Leverton desired to return to USDA some day. After 17 yr at the University of Nebraska, she was a professor of human nutrition and the director of human nutrition research for the Nebraska Agricultural Experimental Station. But the University of Nebraska had employed Leverton since she earned her Ph.D., and she decided a change in position might be an important stepping-stone to government work. Word spread that Leverton was thinking of leaving her position in Lincoln, and many food manufacturers offered her employment. In 1954, though, she moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where she became the assistant director of the Agricultural Experimental Station and assistant dean of home economics at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State University).
Three years later, Leverton did join USDA, and her position as the assistant director of the Human Nutrition Research Division made her the highest ranked woman in that agency in 1957. The following year, she advanced to the post of associate director of the Institute of Home Economics. Ever flexible and desirous of new experiences, Leverton changed positions the following year, and from 1958 to 1970, she worked as the assistant director of the Human Nutrition Research Division of the Institute of Home Economics.
Before her retirement, Leverton changed positions in USDA once more.
From 1970 to 1974, she served as a science adviser in the Agricultural
Research Service of USDA. As part of her duties, Leverton represented
the Agricultural Research Service and USDA when working with the United
Nations and American professional and industry groups. Leverton also
reviewed the federal government's nutrition policies, particularly as
they related to domestic and international food programs. As she
approached retirement, Leverton used her considerable influence to
promote nutrition education for consumers (Leverton 1969
). Leverton was persuasive in calling for nutrient labels
on prepared foods, and she encouraged nutritionists to use practical
tools for teaching nutrition, such as USDA's Daily Food Guide
(Leverton 1973
).
Through the decades, Leverton was quite interested in international nutrition, and she was instrumental in mobilizing scientific resources for the worldwide War on Hunger. Following the devastation of World War II, Leverton believed that world peace would never be achieved successfully until every nation's citizens had access to healthy food, and she was particularly pleased when the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) became the first special service of the United Nations to be activated.
During 1949–1950, Leverton traveled as a Fulbright scholar to the Philippines. In 1950, she represented the United States at the meeting of the Nutrition Committee for South and East Asia held in Burma (now Myanmar); additionally, Leverton represented the United States at the International Rice Commission, which also was held in Burma during 1950. As she returned to America, Leverton traveled throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. Under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Leverton lectured on nutrition in Egypt and Turkey. From 1965 to 1973, she represented the United States at the biennial FAO conference meetings in Rome, and she traveled to Mexico City in 1972 to participate in the IX International Congress of Nutrition. Throughout her career, Leverton also traveled to Guatemala, Spain, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Israel, England, Australia, and The Netherlands to participate in nutrition workshops and conferences and to represent the United States in promoting international health.
Leverton had the privilege of attending and presenting papers at the
national nutrition conferences sponsored by the federal government. In
1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the first National
Nutrition Conference, giving emphasis to the nutritional status of
Americans during World War II. Additional conferences were held every 5
yr beginning in 1952, with several of the sessions focusing
specifically on nutrition education. Leverton concentrated on
children's nutritional status in her presentations, pointing out that
calcium and vitamins A and C were being consumed in inadequate amounts
(Proceedings 1962
). As a committed educator, she charged
other nutritionists to use basic nutrition concepts, which the public
could understand to personalize the nutrition messages they were
hearing (Proceedings 1967
).
Leverton was skilled at bringing nutrition science into people's
homes. She dedicated her book Food Becomes You—first
published in 1952 and then followed by three more editions—to Nebraska
women and their families (Leverton 1952
). Published
nearly 50 years ago, Leverton's book is a classic, and her messages
still are being repeated. For example, in her book Leverton dismisses
food fads that promote grapefruit juice for weight loss and others that
warn against starchy foods because they are fattening. Furthermore, the
recent health promotion messages of the Dietary Guidelines Alliance
program "It's All About You®" repeat Leverton's ideas, such as
individual responsibility in choosing healthy foods and the importance
of varied food choices (Diamond 1997
). Reading
Leverton's work reveals that progress has been made in promoting
healthy lifestyles. Her booklet Fats in Food and Diet
reveals that fat contributed a great deal of energy (nearly 50%) in
American diets during the 1970s (Leverton 1976
). A
sensible dietitian, Leverton reminded her readers that a reasonable
goal for dietary intake of fat is 40% of energy, but less than 35%
would likely show even more health benefits.
Leverton was actively involved in her profession, as evidenced by her memberships in professional societies. Leverton maintained memberships in the American Institute of Nutrition (now the American Society for Nutritional Sciences), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (of which she was elected a Fellow), the American Dietetic Association, the American Home Economics Association (now the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences), and Sigma Xi.
For her years of research and service, Leverton was lauded with honors throughout her career. She received the Borden Award for outstanding research from the American Home Economics Association—both in 1942 and 1953. In 1961, she was the first woman in the history of the University of Nebraska to be awarded an honorary doctor of science, and in 1964, she was the first woman selected by students at the University of Nebraska to participate in their Master's Week. As part of this honor, she was selected to address the honors convocation; once again, she was the first woman to do so.
Other important awards followed: the Distinguished Service Award from USDA in 1972 and the Conrad A. Elvehjem Award for public service from the American Institute of Nutrition in 1973. In 1977, Leverton was given a Federal Woman's Award for her leadership in providing better diets, both for Americans and for people around the globe. The American Dietetic Association followed suit that same year by awarding Leverton with the Medallion Award for her years of outstanding service to the field of dietetics.
After many years with the federal government, Leverton retired in May 1974. She remained close to Washington, D.C., and worked part-time as a consultant and taught part-time as a professor of nutrition at Howard University. Leverton later moved to Champaign, Illinois, where she owned a farm. She became an honorary professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she served on committees and occasionally taught. While living in Champaign, Leverton became ill with esophageal cancer, and she died there on September 14, 1982. Leverton's body was cremated, and her ashes were buried in a family plot in Warren, Illinois. Dr. Leverton is survived by her sister Helen Voigt of Davenport, Nebraska, along with four nieces and 10 great-nieces and nephews.
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REFERENCES |
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TOPINTRODUCTIONREFERENCES |
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1. Diamond L. The Dietary Guidelines Alliance: reaching consumers with meaningful health messages. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1997;97:249
2. Lantz E. M., Smith M. C., Leverton R. M. The calcium and phosphorus metabolism of children with mottled enamel. J. Home Econ. 1935;27:236-239
3. Leverton R. M. Reliability of the thiocyanate method for the determination of iron in acid digests of foods and feces. J. Home Econ. 1938;30:252-257
4. Leverton R. M. Food Becomes You. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1952;
5. Leverton R. M. The merry-go-round of reducing diets. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1953;29:333-336[Medline]
6. Leverton R. M. Speeding the application of research findings through international cooperation in home economics. J. Home Econ. 1969;61:247-251
7. Leverton R. M. Tools for teaching food needs. J. Home Econ. 1973;65:37-39
8. Leverton R. M. Fats in Food and Diet. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 361 1976;:
9. Leverton R. M., Elisson J. Ten-year study of the cost and nutritive value of the self-planned diets of college girls. J. Home Econ. 1953;45:326-331
10. Leverton R. M., Gram M. R. Nitrogen excretion of women related to the distribution of animal protein in daily meals. J. Nutr. 1949;39:57-65[Medline]
11. Leverton R. M., Gram M. R., Chaloupka M. Effect of the time factor and calorie level on nitrogen utilization of young women. J. Nutr. 1951;44:537-545[Medline]
12. Leverton R. M., Gram M. R., Chaloupka M., Brodovsky E., Mitchell A. The quantitative amino acid requirements of young women. I. Threonine. J. Nutr. 1955;58:59-81
13. Leverton R. M., McMillan T. J. Meat in the diet of pregnant women. JAMA 1946;130:134-136
14. Leverton R. M., McMillan T. J., Peters M. Blood regeneration in women blood donors. I. Effect of generous amounts of meat and milk in the diet. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1944;20:747-751
15. Leverton R. M., Roberts L. J. Hemoglobin and red cell content of the blood of normal women during successive menstrual cycles. JAMA 1936;106:1459-1463
16. Leverton R. M., Schlaphoff D., Huffstetter M. Blood regeneration in women blood donors. II. Effect of protein, vitamin, and mineral supplements. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1948;24:480-484
17. Leverton R. M., Smith M. C. The relation of calcium and phosphorus in the diet to the cause of mottled enamel of human teeth. J. Home Econ. 1932;24:1091-1097
18. Proceedings of Nutrition Education Conference. Theme: Improving Nutrition Education for Children. January 29–31, 1962. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publication No. 913, pp. 8–11.
19. Proceedings of Nutrition Education Conference. Theme: Effective Communication. February 20–22, 1967. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publication No. 1075, pp. 27–29.
20. Reynolds M. S., Ohlson M. A., Pittman M. S., McKay H., Patton M. B., Donelson E., Leverton R. M., Meiller E. J., Bitting M. H. The dietary habits of college students. J. Home Econ. 1942;34:379-384
21. Rose W. C. Amino acid requirements of man. Fed. Proc. 1949;8:546-552[Medline]
22. Smith M. C., Leverton R. M. A simple method of preventing the high mortality of young rats during the nursing period. J. Home Econ. 1934;26:628-629
23. Smith M. C., Leverton R. M. Comparative toxicity of fluorine compounds. Ind. Eng. Chem. 1934;26:791-797
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