Kathryn Beck (dietitian)

Kathryn Louise Beck is a New Zealand academic, a registered dietitian, and is a full professor at Massey University, specialising in dietary assessment, sustainable nutrition, and iron deficiency in young women and sportspeople.

Academic career
After completing Bachelor of Physical Education and Bachelor of Science degrees at the University of Otago, Beck moved to Massey University to undertake a Master's degree on the effect of meat extract on iron absorption. She continued her iron absorption research with a PhD titled Iron deficiency in young women: causes, consequences and solutions, completed in 2013. Beck then joined the faculty of the university, rising to full professor in 2024.

Beck has worked in clinical, community and academic settings. Beck's research covers dietary assessment, sustainable nutrition and especially iron deficiency. She is also interested on the health impacts of ultra-processed food, and iron status in sportspeople, for instance she has researched iron deficiency in adolescent ballet dancers. She has received more than $4 million dollars of research funding, including grants from the Health Research Council and MBIE. She is a World Cancer Research Fund Academy Fellow. Research funding from the New Zealand Heart Foundation will be used to investigate the effect of ultra-processed food on heart health in children.

Beck is a registered dietitian, and leads the Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics at Massey. Beck is on the editorial boards of the Nutrition Journal and the Journal of Sport and Exercise Science.

Honours and awards
In 2020 Beck was awarded the Massey University Early Career research award.