The Invention of Corn Flakes

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a physician and Seventh-day Adventist, invented corn flakes in 1894 as part of his campaign against masturbation. He believed bland, sugarless food would suppress sexual desire and promote moral purity. Kellogg ran a sanitarium where he promoted bizarre health treatments: yogurt enemas, electrical genital stimulation to cure impotence (but not enjoyment), and circumcision without anesthetic as punishment for masturbation. He advocated applying carbolic acid to young girls' clitorises. He and his wife had separate bedrooms and never consummated their marriage, instead adopting children. His brother Will added sugar to the corn flakes and commercialized them, causing a permanent rift. John sued unsuccessfully to stop him. Ironically, Will Kellogg's sweetened version became a breakfast staple worldwide. The Kellogg's company downplays this history. Modern research shows bland food has no effect on libido. The corn flake origin story reveals Victorian-era sexual neuroses and medical quackery's disturbing history.