Fruits, Nuts, Flakes—Food Fads at the Turn of the 20Th Century a Biography of John Harvey Kellogg

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Fruits, Nuts, Flakes—Food Fads at the Turn of the 20th Century A Biography of John Harvey Kellogg

Carolyn D. Berdanier, PhD

At the age of 12, he began to learn the printing trade and John Harvey Kellogg was an important member of the progressed from printer’s devil to editorial assistant for the medical community in Michigan who sought to relate Adventist publishing house. At the age of 16, John Harvey nutrition to health. He believed that a daily bowel cleansing Kellogg taught in a rural school in Michigan. He then finished high school and enrolled in a teacher training was essential to health maintenance. Although, program at Michigan State Normal School in Ypsilanti. subsequently, this idea was found faulty, he was also an In 1872, he was sent by the church to Dr Russell Trall’s advocate of vegetarianism. With his brother Will, he invented Hygeio-Therapeutic College in Florence Heights, New cereal flakes using oats, wheat, and corn. These products Jersey. However, he did not fully accept their teachings and decided to enroll in a more orthodox medical training were then manufactured by Will’s company, The Kellogg program, first at the University of Michigan Medical School Company. Nutr Today. 2007;42(1):16–17 and then at Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He graduated with an MD degree in 1875 at the age of 23. His senior thesis at Bellevue was based on the idea that s the 1800s turned into the 1900s, nutrition disease is a natural defense mechanism of the body. science was beginning to make itself known. A Nutrition scientists published reports on the remarkable healing power of nutritious food for such diseases as pellagra, rickets, beri beri, scurvy, and so John Harvey Kellogg directed the forth. Surprisingly, these diseases were prevalent especially among the poor and uneducated, whose Battle Creek Sanatorium and food choices were very limited. Reports of the ‘‘near popularized cornflakes. miraculous cures’’ by food of these common problems captured the imagination of the common man such that all sorts of diseases were laid at the feet of food choice. Food faddism had its origins in this unwarranted While a medical student, John Harvey Kellogg connection based on ignorance or, perhaps better stated, continued to serve the Adventist publishing house. unsupported conclusions about food and its effects on He became editor of their monthly magazine, Health health. Indeed, even some notable medical persons Reformer (later changed in 1879 to Good Health). One were convinced that food was the root of all evil. Such year after obtaining his MD degree, he became the an individual was John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of medical superintendent of the Western Health Reform ready-to-eat cereal, corn, rice, and wheat flakes. Institute, which he later renamed the Battle Creek John Harvey Kellogg was born in Tyrone Township, Sanitarium or the ‘‘San.’’ While superintendent, he Michigan, in 1852. His family was converted to the applied his ideas about health, which he called ‘‘biologic Seventh Day Adventist church in 1864 by visitor James living.’’ His ‘‘Battle Creek Idea’’ enjoyed widespread White. The family subsequently moved to Battle Creek, support among the Adventists for about 20 years, after Michigan, as that town became the world headquarters which the church began to question some of his for this religious group. The Seventh Day Adventists programs. The church urged him to curb his desire to were and are vegetarians. They abstain from consuming expand his programs, but he was unwilling to do so. This meat, poultry, and fish, although eggs, milk, and milk led to a split between the church and John Harvey products are sometimes consumed depending on what Kellogg, and subsequently, Kellogg was excommunicated the particular group dictates. in 1907. There ensued a battle with the church over the

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control of the Sanitarium. Within the Sanitarium, Kellogg colon that could evolve into colitis, a very serious and had established a Foods laboratory, and it was there that debilitating condition often requiring surgery to correct. a process for preparing cereal flakes was developed. In addition to daily bowel cleansing, John Harvey Kellogg Flakes from wheat, corn, and rice were prepared, and advocated ‘‘fletcherizing.’’ This involved chewing food their use as a breakfast cereal was encouraged. so much that the food would then ‘‘slither’’ down the John Harvey Kellogg’s Brother Will (Will Keith esophagus. He later abandoned this idea. John Harvey Kellogg, 1860Y1951) worked with his brother for a Kellogg advocated vegetarianism and favored low-protein, number of years until policy decision differences led to high-fiber laxative foods. He also advocated morning a split between the brothers. They argued over whether calisthenics and open-air sleeping. During Michigan to use sugar in the production of the flakes. Will thought winters, this must have been quite a challenge to adherents! that this addition made the product tastier and more John Harvey Kellogg wrote and had published a attractive; also, the sugar aided in the browning of the number of books and articles, and it was the income from flakes. John opposed this addition and some other the sale of these publications that supported him. decisions about the management of the company and the Perhaps, one of his most noted books was The Miracle of development of other products. Will founded a separate Life, published in 1904. Although Kellogg served as the food manufacturing company and, through a series of director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, his income was legal battles, secured the right to use the Kellogg name on derived from his surgical practice and his publications. these cereal products. The first name of this company Although he and his wife had no children, they adopted was the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. 7 and parented a total of 40. John Harvey Kellogg died It was subsequently renamed The Kellogg Company. in Battle Creek in 1943, leaving a legacy of dry breakfast Much later, Will established the Kellogg Foundation, cereal use, vegetarianism, and the idea of daily bowel which administers funds for educational and charitable cleansing. Some of this legacy lives on today. purposes. About this time, James Caleb Jackson invented a dry cereal called granula, an early predecessor of Carolyn D. Berdanier, PhD, is professor emerita at the University of today’s granola. In addition, a former Kellogg patient, Georgia (UGA). She has had a long and productive career in nutrition. Charles William Post, started a rival cereal company, She began her career as a researcher with the US Department of Agriculture Post cereals. Post also developed the beverage Postum. (USDA) in Beltsville, then moved to the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, and, shortly thereafter, moved to the UGA. She served as department head at UGA for 11 years before stepping down to more actively pursue her research interests in nutrient-gene interactions. Her research has Will Kellogg commercialized been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, USDA, the cornflakes. Bly Fund, and several commodity research boards. Her publication record includes 135 research publications in peer-reviewed journals, 16 books (either sole authored, edited, or coedited), 35 invited reviews, 60 chapters in multiauthored scientific books, and numerous short reviews in Nutrition Reviews. She has served on a number of editorial boards and contributes John Harvey Kellogg had a sharp mind and great regularly to Nutrition Today. She has received numerous awards for her manual dexterity. He was a skilled surgeon and, in the research accomplishments, including the Borden Award, the Lamar Dodd 1890s, set a record of 165 abdominal surgeries without award for creative research, The UGA Research Medal, the National 4H a fatality. He was elected to the American College of award for alumni, and outstanding alumna awards from both Rutgers and Surgeons in 1914. He was highly regarded by the the Pennsylvania State University. Recently, she was elected a fellow of the Brothers Mayo (Founders of the Mayo Clinic). His American Society for Nutrition Science. favorite organ was the bowel, and he maintained that Correspondence: 1050 Simonton Way, Watkinsville, GA 30677 (e-mail: 90% of all illness was caused by bowel problems. To [email protected]). address these problems, he advocated daily cleansing. He even invented an enema machine capable of pumping Further Information 15 gal/min of an enema solution (usually epsom salts) into the bowel. After such a cleansing, the patient was Carson G. Sylvester Graham. In: The American Heritage Cookbook. New York: The American Heritage Publishing to consume a pint of yogurt. This was to establish a Y beneficial bowel environment. The idea of a daily Company, Simon & Schuster; 1964:173 178. Deutsch RM. The Nuts Among the Berries; An Expose of cleansing or daily enema (and very loose stool) continues American Food Fads. New York: Oxford Press; even today with many of the elderly people. They hold 1967. 135 pp. on to the idea that if they do not have this daily stool, Deutsch RM. The New Nuts Among the Berries. New York: then they are unwell. Unfortunately, with many who Oxford Press; 1977. 150 pp. hold this idea, there is the risk of developing an irritable John Harvey Kellogg [Web]. Accessed August 3, 2006.

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