Physicians, Dentists and Food

Isn’t it strange for a physician to be involved with a food product?

Absolutely not! Since the ancient Greeks, physicians have recognized food and health are intertwined. A physician or dentist developed all of the following foods:

• Peanut butter

• Corn Flakes

• Welch’s Grape Juice

• Muesli Cereal

• Baker’s Chocolate

• Whole Meal Bakery Goods

Peanut Butter  Top

In 1890, an unknown St. Louis physician created peanut butter as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn't chew meat.

Around the same time, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in Battle Creek, Michigan, began experimenting with peanut butter as a vegetarian source of protein for his patients. His brother, W.K. Kellogg, was business manager of their sanitarium, the Western Health Reform Institute. He operated the Sanitas Nut Company that supplied foods like peanut butter to local grocery stores.

Corn Flakes  Top

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a physician and his brother William R. Kellogg invented corn flakes as a part of the vegetarian health food diet at their Seventh Day Adventist sanatorium. They emphasized a regimen of exercise and healthy eating. Sound familiar? And this was in 1894!

Welch’s Grape Juice  Top

The story of Welch's dates back to 1869, when physician and dentist Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed a method for pasteurizing grape juice in his home in Vineland, NJ. His goal was to produce an alcohol-free wine to be used at communion in his local church. The original name of the product was called "Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine.”

Dr. Charles E. Welch, son of Welch's founder, was more interested in his father's grape juice developments than in his own dentistry career. In 1875, he returned to Vineland and resumed production of "Dr. Welch's," while still maintaining his practice. The New Jersey Dentists who started Welch's Grape Juice

Of note, Dr. Lankin was born in Vineland, NJ. Is it something in the water?

Muesli Cereal  Top

Swiss physician Dr. Bircher-Benner first invented Müesli, a cereal made of rolled oats and dried fruit, in the late 1800's to improve the diets of children. Dr. Bircher-Benner was also a proponent of vegetarian diets.

Baker’s Chocolate  Top

Chocolate?!! Yes. A Massachusetts physician Dr. James Baker founded America’s first permanent and profitable chocolate factory in 1765. Dr. Baker and his Chocolate Factory

Whole Meal Bakery Goods  Top

Dr. Johann George Schnitzer, a German dentist, developed a whole line of bakery products to help reduce dental decay. Dr. Schnitzer and Wholemeal Natural Recipes