Physiological Economy in Nutrition

The 1904 monograph by Russell H. Chittenden, professor of physiological chemistry and director of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, reporting experimental studies of low-protein “economical” diets. Chittenden learned of Fletcher’s theories in 1902 and invited him to New Haven, where Fletcher was a guest and a test subject alongside soldiers and athletes; Chittenden recorded that Fletcher, then in his fifties, maintained fitness and strength on a protein intake well below the standards of the day. The archive cites it as the contemporary scientific engagement with Fletcherism. It lent the doctrine a scientific imprimatur on the narrow point of reduced intake, but it studied protein economy and physical performance; it did not test Fletcher’s broad claims that mastication prevents disease or extends life. The Project Gutenberg digital edition reproduces the text.