Corn Flakes

John Harvey Kellogg developed corn flakes in the late 19th century as part of a bland-food regimen he believed would curb sexual urges, including masturbation. The story recounts how Kellogg, a zealous health reformer at his Battle Creek sanitarium, promoted plain diets as a tool of moral discipline. Readers online are amused and surprised that a breakfast staple began as part of a puritanical health movement.