Roslyn Alfin-Slater, 86; UCLA Professor, Expert on Nutrition

Roslyn B. Alfin-Slater, a longtime UCLA professor and an authority on nutrition, died Aug. 9 in Los Angeles following a stroke. She was 86.

Alfin-Slater was known for her common-sense approach to diet and nutrition. She co-founded the newsletter “Nutrition and the MD,” written for doctors and nutritionists, and with Derrick B. Jelliffe wrote the column Science, Food and Health in The Times from 1972 to 1982.

She performed some of the early studies on the relationship between cholesterol and essential fatty acid metabolism, and was among the first to question the effects of dietary intake of cholesterol on cholesterol levels in the blood.

Alfin-Slater was the target of criticism in 1980, when she was co-author of a report that downplayed the role of dietary fat in heart disease. Critics said that the results were biased by Alfin-Slater’s and other co-authors’ ties to the egg industry through consulting or research support.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Alfin-Slater obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Brooklyn College in 1936. She later attended Columbia University, where she earned a master’s in chemistry and a doctorate in biochemistry.

She joined the faculty of UCLA’s School of Public Health in 1959 and helped to found its program in public health nutrition. For several years, she also taught a popular UCLA extension class called Nutrition for Now, which emphasized practical guidelines on vegetarianism, additives in food, fad diets and other topics.

Alfin-Slater, who retired from UCLA in 1987, also was the author of the four-volume series “Human Nutrition, A Comprehensive Treatise” and the book “Nutrition for Today.”

She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Grant, a research chemist at UCLA.