Crazy Story of Dr. Kellogg Who Invented Corn Flakes To Prevent Masturbation

His cereal was to hamper sexual desires.

The name of John Harvey Kellogg resounds when we talk about the American Hygiene Movement, as after all, he deployed his mind into thinking of varying health measures.

Espousing a holistic approach to wellness, Kellogg invented cereal with his brother, making such an “American breakfast” prophet in hygiene in the 20th century.

He championed nutrition and launched violent anti-masturbation campaigns, where the genitals of young girls and boys were advised to get mutilated.

Let’s dive into the link of his solid violent beliefs and his invention of a winning breakfast product:

Mixed Influences on John Harvey Kellogg

Born on Feb 26, 1853, in Tyrone, Michigan, Kellogg witnessed America’s hygiene revolution. It was around the time when the first flushing toilet was patented. But, the era was not all about wellness, as it was during the very century when campaigns regarding sex and alcoholism were rising.

Witnessing both sides of the society messed up Kellogg’s mind pretty heavily — the combination of both concepts, abstinence and extreme hygiene, seeped dipped into his subconscious and influenced his theories.

Kellogg’s strong belief system

Kellogg fastened himself with the idea of “Biologic living” from the time he was pursuing his medical degree in 1875. From the college level, he already had the idea of healthy living instilled in his mind.

Revering the human body deeply, Kellog labeled it a “living temple” and thus took a holistic approach that satisfied his religious extremism and respect for nutritional science.

Embracing vegetarianism, prohibition, and abstinence, Kellogg considered any action outside these paradigms as “self-pollution.” He invested his own body and spirit into total cleanliness and asked everyone to adopt bizarre ways of achieving it.

Like, his life took a significant turn when he shifted his efforts towards cleaning America’s breakfast routines, quite a fascinating interest to treasure. Kellogg’s bizarre belief was attached with such effort: his cereal was aimed to hamper sexual desire.

The Bland Cereal To Hamper Sexual Desire

In the 1880s, the breakfast meal of average America was mostly meat — be it cold, salted, fried, or any other form. Non-meat alternatives existed, but it used to take forever to prepare grains and oats for breakfast.

People used to shy away from such an alternative, as it was a burdensome breakfast in terms of the time duration it took and the calories it contained.

In such a time, Kellogg’s suggested widening the consumption of yogurt, grains, and nuts. Meanwhile, he, along with his brother, worked to perfect a low-maintenance cereal breakfast.

They crumbled the whole graham biscuits during their first attempt and called those “granola” — but it was what they ultimately wanted. Working tirelessly, the brothers managed to manufacture flaked wheat cereal in 1902, calling it corn flakes.

Reform through the cornflakes

John Harvey Kellogg soon got disinterested in the enterprise, giving his brother William a chance to buy the shares of corn flakes, who ultimately opened the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1906.

All did not remain well within the family as soon John Harvey sued his brother for using the family’s last name. Guess what?

William sued him back and ultimately won. After the whole family drama, Kellog stated he was never after the business but after the reform.

Reform? Through corn flakes? Well, John Harvey encouraged the battle against one of life’s deadliest vices — masturbation, and that too through manufacturing clean food that would help people eradicate their carnal desires. What? Well, at least, this was what John Harvey theorized.

John Harvey Kellogg’s violent ideas

He was disgusted by sex all his life — even never consummated his marriage. He fostered 42 children with his wife, Ella Ervilla Eaton but never had any biological child.

He came up with some violent ideas: Parents should tie their children’s hands to their bedpost, circumcised the teen boys, and sew a man’s penis to prevent erections.

As far as young girls were concerned, he suggested the pouring of carbolic acid over their clitorises.

Interestingly, Kellog believed that a purer diet offered by Cornflake would help in controlling children’s sexual desire — a less gruesome method that was merely his belief.

John Harvey Kellogg’s Actual Wellness Contributions

Apart from the bizarre ways, Kellogg took appreciative measures like taking control of the health spa — he remodeled Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1877.

His contributions led Sanitarium to emerge as a beacon of wellness, and within a decade, it jumped from treating 300 patients a year to 1200.

Moreover, his less bizarre ways of encouraging wellness included getting multiple enemas a day, and he used to receive an enema twice a day, first at breakfast and then at lunch.

Stressing on the consumption of a daily pint of Yoghurt, Kellogg recommended getting one half through the mouth and the other through the anus.

Additionally, he patented a chair that shook the patients to such a violent extent that they used to discharge feces.

He also favored criminals’ forced sterilization and in babies’ better breeding, where he organized race conferences for criminals and better baby contests for white infants, awarding them based on their breeding.

Soon, Kellogg turned a wellness guru for the unwell Americans — he even treated Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.

A Complicated Legacy

Didn’t he do quite a lot for health? He surely did. Kellog’s wellness treatments were unusual, but he must have been doing at least something right, for he passed away at the ripe age of 91.

Summing up his legacy: it is a complicated one — because he not only contributed in wise measures for hygiene but also espoused violent ideas concerning sexuality.

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