Woods Hutchinson

Woods Hutchinson (January 3, 1862 – April 26, 1930) was an English American physician and health writer. Hutchinson promoted the consumption of red meat and white bread and was strongly opposed to the ideas of vegetarianism.

Biography

Hutchinson was born at Selby, Yorkshire, England. He graduated from Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa in 1880, and received his medical degree from the University of Michigan four years later. He worked as a professor of anatomy at the State University of Iowa between 1891 and 1896 and then became a professor of comparative pathology at the University of Buffalo until 1900. While at Buffalo, he also edited The Polyclinic and lectured at the London Medical Graduates' College and the University of London, starting in 1899. Besides The Polyclinic, he edited Vis Medicatrix early in his career, (from 1890 to 1891). In 1903, he became the Oregon State Health Officer; he held that post for two years. Following the post in Oregon, he became a professor of clinical medicine at the New York Polyclinic.

Dieting

Hutchinson supported a form of eugenics that espoused the importance of animal protein in the human diet. He recommended for health the consumption of large quantities of barely cooked beef.

Hutchinson defended adipose tissue against the viewpoint that it was a health risk. He commented that adipose "is really a most harmless, healthful, innocent tissue." He argued against fashion and trends in which young women wanted to be thin and wrote that "the long-for slender and boyish figure is becoming a menace."

Hutchinson was attacked by vegetarians. For example, Kellogg's Good Health journal described Hutchinson as a "beef drunkard and propagandist of the most pronounced type."

Selected publications

The Gospel According to Darwin (1898) The Cancer Problem (1900) Studies in Human and Comparative Pathology (1901) Instinct and Health (1908) Fat and Its Follies (1909) Preventable Diseases (1909) Conquest of Consumption (1910) Exercise and Health (1911) The Child's Day (1912) Common Diseases (1913) Civilization and Health (1914) The Doctor In War (1918) A Handbook of Health (1922)