When Harry met Kellogg

Birthday greetings to Kellogg's, the company that turns 100 this year thanks in large part to corn flakes. Kellogg brothers Will Keith (W.K.) and Dr. John Harvey went into cereal in 1906, "as American eating habits began shifting from heavy, fat-laden breakfasts to lighter, more grain-based meals," it sez here.

"W.K. discovered that a better flake was produced by using only the corn grit or 'sweet heart of the corn. To help consumers distinguish Kellogg's Corn Flakes® cereal from the products of the 42 other cereal companies in Battle Creek, Michigan, W.K. put his signature on each package, saying that these Corn Flakes are the 'The Original.' The company succeeded because it believed the entire populace, not just those on special diets, might be interested in wholesome cereal foods, and because it continually improved its product line and packaging techniques to meet the needs of an ever-changing and evolving consumer base."

Fascinating? Gosh, but not quite the whole story. There was in fact a family obsession with preserving men's physical and spiritual strength, which Doc John believed was dissipated by... the willy nilly release of sperm. John Kellogg to the rescue!

"Masturbation was also associated with many physical symptoms; psychiatrist Benjamin Rush called it 'self-pollution,' claiming that it caused headaches, epilepsy, nosebleeds, memory loss, heart murmurs, blindness, and even psychosis," it sez here.

But that was a picnic compared to what came next. As John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman write in the book "Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America," by the 1800s the idea that male masturbation destroyed body and mind was being questioned... by those who believed that any and all sex was bad for men. "[S]turdy manhood... loses its energy and bends under too frequent expenditure of this important secretion," noted the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal" in 1835.

The control of men's sex drive needed extra help, concurs this write-up: "In the 1800s, Sylvester Graham led a health food crusade based on the idea that sexual excess including masturbation, erotic dreams and intercourse more than once a month was caused by rich and spicy foods. He prescribed a bland and boring diet; the Graham cracker, in fact, is a sweetened version of his invention. Corn Flakes were originally designed by John Harvey Kellogg to promote health and decrease sex drive!"