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 has been described as "one of the most popular advocates for the importance of meat in human diets during the era." Hutchinson's dietary advice was heavily connected to his advocacy of eugenics. He believed that vegetarianism was uncivilized and made the population weak. In his book Instinct and Health he wrote that "it may be stated that vegetarianism is the diet of the enslaved, stagnant, and conquered races, and a diet rich in meat is that of the progressive, the dominant, and the conquering strains."
