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Dr. John Harvey Kellogg would have enjoyed The Contest and The Abstinence, two classic Seinfeld episodes.
In The Contest, Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine wager on who can remain master of their domain for the longest time. In The Abstinence, George and Elaine experience the consequences of temporary celibacy.
Why would Dr. Kellogg, who ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium 100 years before Seinfeld aired on television, have enjoyed these plot lines? Because he staunchly believed that sexual activity, self-satisfaction in particular, had a negative effect on health.
Cancer, urinary disease, epilepsy, sleeplessness, loss of vitality, vision impairment and, oddly, atrophy of the testicles and impotence were all due to engaging in pleasures of the flesh. The antidote? A bland vegetarian diet that Kellogg claimed reduced sexual stimulation.
Interestingly, he was also one of the first to note that it took huge amounts of grain to produce small amounts of meat. The same grain, he maintained, could just as well have been used as food, a point environmentalists are making today. Dr. Kellogg also recommended using soy as a source of protein rather than meat, an idea that is well accepted today. The good doctor could not be accused of not following his own advice. He maintained a vegetarian diet and never consummated his marriage with Mrs. Kellogg, but the couple did foster 42 children, eventually adopting eight of them.
Undoubtedly, among the general public Dr. Kellogg is best known for having developed the flaked breakfast cereal. However, the notion that he invented cereal flakes to curb the sexual appetite is a myth. The various cereals developed in the kitchen of 鈥淭he San鈥� were supposed to be easily digested, and their low protein and high fibre content were said to change the intestinal flora for the better.
Dr. Kellogg was vehemently opposed to adding sugar to the cereal he and his brother Will had formulated out of wheat oats and corn, and that eventually caused a falling out with Will, who was more interested in profits than health. Will went on to found the Kellogg cereal company that made a fortune by selling sugary cereals, much to the horror of his brother. And that was before the company produced Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops.
With his view of the importance of the intestinal flora, Dr. Kellogg could be called a visionary. Today, researchers crank out almost daily publications on the role of the microbiome in health. Not only did Dr. Kellogg believe that the fibre in his cereals, to which today we would refer to as a 鈥減rebiotic,鈥� was conducive to good health, he also advocated the use of yogurt to balance the intestinal flora. Without using the term, he was pushing 鈥減robiotics.鈥� He even had the idea that the live bacteria in yogurt could be best introduced into the colon through enemas. Although this has not been put to a test, fecal transplants through the rear portals containing live bacteria have been shown to be effective in treating some intestinal diseases.
Given his penchant for yogurt, Dr. Kellogg would probably have taken an interest in another Seinfeld episode, The Non-Fat Yogurt. Jerry, George and Elaine can鈥檛 believe how good a frozen yogurt that Kramer has invested in tastes and assume that since it is advertised as 鈥渇at-free,鈥� they can eat as much as they like. Only when they start gaining weight do they realize that the advertising is false. I think Dr. Kellogg would have liked the idea of eating yogurt, and with his lack of interest in profits would have been up in arms about false advertising.
Dr. Kellogg would also have been in line with another scene in The Abstinence in which Kramer, upon seeing smokers being forced to smoke outside a restaurant, is inspired to convert his apartment into a smoking lounge. But he then experiences the effects of second-hand smoke, which makes his face leathery. He enlists a lawyer to sue the tobacco company for ruining his good looks.
Dr. Kellogg was an early opponent of tobacco smoking, long before Richard Doll conclusively linked smoking to lung cancer in the 1950s. He believed, correctly, that tobacco was not only physiologically damaging but also presented an economic burden for society. Dr. Kellogg also claimed, again correctly as we now know, that alcohol has a deleterious effect on the brain, the digestive system and the liver.
I think Dr. Kellogg would have been a bit ambivalent about the episode in which George consults a 鈥渉olistic healer,鈥� hoping to avoid surgery to have his tonsils removed. After telling George that he should have been born in August instead of April, the healer tells him that he must never take a hot shower.
Dr. Kellogg was a big believer in hydrotherapy, especially reducing the pulse with a cold-water bath. But drinking a tea containing 鈥渃ramp bark,鈥� 鈥渃leavers鈥� and 鈥渃ouch grass鈥� while sitting under a pyramid would not have sat well with Dr. Kellogg, who was a trained and competent surgeon and was not an advocate of herbal remedies. He would certainly not have agreed with the healer鈥檚 allegation that the medical establishment just wants to keep people sick so they can reap more profits.
One episode that Dr. Kellogg would have found troubling is The Mango, in which George鈥檚 virility is boosted by eating a mango, a fruit that has an unwarranted reputation as an aphrodisiac. Given his views about the evils of sexual activity, the father of the corn flake would not have been amused.
While in many ways Dr. Kellogg was ahead of his time, he had strange ideas in addition to his belief that carnal acts should be reserved for procreation. He was a disciple of Horace Fletcher, a dubious health expert who advised people to chew each bite of food at least 40 times before swallowing. Kellogg also invented a vibrating chair that shook up to 60 times a second with the apparent goal of stimulating the bowels.
Then there was a device that administered a mild electric current to the skin that Kellogg claimed could treat lead poisoning, tuberculosis, obesity and, when applied directly to the patient鈥檚 eyeballs, a variety of vision disorders. And we won鈥檛 even mention the cage he invented to be placed over young boys鈥� genitals to prevent the great evil.
