Dictionary Definition
pabulum
Noun
2 insipid intellectual nourishment
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
See also
Latin
Noun
pabulum, -i, n- food for animals
- food in general
Extensive Definition
Pablum is a processed
cereal for infants originally marketed by
the Mead
Johnson Company in 1931. The trademarked name is a
contracted form of the Latin word pabulum,
meaning "foodstuff".
History
Pablum was developed by Canadian paediatricians Frederick
Tisdall, Theodore
Drake, and Alan Brown, in collaboration with nutrition laboratory technician Ruth Herbert (all
of the
Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto), along
with Mead Johnson chemist Harry H. Engel. The
cereal marked a breakthrough in nutritional
science: it helped prevent rickets, a crippling childhood
disease, by ensuring
that children had sufficient vitamin D in
their diet.
Although neither Pablum nor its biscuit
predecessor were the first food designed and sold specifically for
babies, it was the first baby food to
come precooked and thoroughly dried. The ease of preparation made
Pablum successful in an era when infant malnutrition was still a
major problem in industrialized countries.
Pablum Mixed Cereal was made from a mixture of
ground and precooked wheat
(farina), oatmeal, yellow corn meal,
bone
meal, dried brewer's yeast, and powdered alfalfa leaf, fortified with
reduced
iron — providing an assortment of minerals
and vitamins A, B1, B2, D, and E. Pablum is
palatable and easily digested without causing side
effects like diarrhea or constipation. It is also
unlikely to cause allergic
reactions, as it does not contain eggs, lactose or nuts of any
kind (although it may contain wheat and corn, either of which can
be allergenic for some individuals).
For a period of 25 years, the Hospital for Sick
Children and the
Toronto Pediatric Foundation received a royalty on every package of
Pablum sold. In 2005, the Pablum brand was acquired by the H. J.
Heinz Company.