The UnderQuaker

With cereal products booming after WWII, the Quaker Oats Company needed to establish its nutritional dominance over competitors in the whole grain market. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Quaker sponsored an MIT study that fed mentally disabled children oatmeal and milk laced with radioactive iron and calcium. Nine boys were injected with radioactive calcium to study absorption. The doses involved were reportedly low, making it unlikely that the children came to harm, but parents and guardians were not fully informed about the experiments. The research furthered our understanding of calcium metabolism and laid the groundwork for future research on osteoporosis.