Do you love cheese as much as I love it? When one of my boyfriends on a date once asked me what food I loved most and would like to eat right now, I answered without hesitation: “Cheese!” A little salty. Better in a big hole. Or marbled yellow-white. And even better - elite, with mold.
Sometimes, for a gastronomic feast, a plate with cubes of cheese, a bowl of liquid honey and a rosette with nuts is enough for me. I also feel uncomfortable, anxious and restless when the cheese runs out, and I understand that I won’t have this deliciousness for breakfast tomorrow. After all, my ideal morning food is a hot sandwich from white bread with a plate of ham and streaks of melted cheese. Without the latter, this whole composition loses most of its taste appeal for me.
The hype around drug addiction to cheese was generated by a book by an American scientist and president of the Committee of General Practitioners for the Introduction of New medicines the doctors Neal Barnard, Breaking Food Temptations: The Hidden Causes of Food Addiction and Seven Steps to Overcome Them Naturally. In it, Dr. Barnard connects the narcotic properties of cheese with its content casein- a substance produced by the liver of dairy cows. Casein is a protein that, during the process of digestion by our gastrointestinal tract breaks down and produces the substance casomorphine. The very name of the latter involuntarily suggests parallels with morphine.
Casomorphine is similar in composition to, but is still not as strong a drug as the latter. Although it must be recognized that casomorphine can still cause some dependence on products containing it. After all, just as in the case of opium, casomorphine, acting on the brain, triggers mechanisms in it that give a feeling of increased pleasure and a relaxing effect. Man is so constructed that he strives for positive emotions. And since cheese delivers, we want to eat it again and again. Moreover, it is believed that lovers of expensive cheeses are even more susceptible to cheese addiction than those who prefer traditional varieties.
But a logical question arises. The fact is that casomorphine is found in all dairy products: regular milk, cottage cheese and even in breast milk. What happens? Babies with mother's milk receive their first narcotic substances? To some extent, yes. This partly explains the addiction of newborns to their mothers' breast milk. But the comparison of casomorphine with morphine is too exaggerated. It is not capable of having a serious effect on the brain. On the contrary, cheese is one of those products that can put our nervous system. It satisfies hunger well, takes a long time to digest and does not put strong pressure on the walls of the stomach. As a result, our brain quickly receives a signal of satiety. We are full, which means we are calm and able to enjoy life.
In addition, cheese contains many useful substances: calcium, so necessary for bones, protein, required by our muscles, B vitamins. Therefore, you cannot refuse cheese at all. But it is necessary to monitor its fat content. It is better not to put anything in your grocery basket that contains more than 50% fat.
Journalists, as usual, picked up information about the narcotic properties of cheese and presented it to the reader as a sensation. As soon as you enter the phrase “cheese-drug” in any Internet search engine, you will be offered hundreds of notes, this way and that, “repeating” the news about the content in cheese and causing addiction to the popular dairy product.
In fact, Dr. Barnard's goal was not to destroy the global cheese industry and make people give up this product. His research aims to help overweight people. In his book, he explains to readers that we often type excess weight due to addiction to certain foods (chocolate, cheese, meat), as a result of which we exceed the dose of their consumption. Dr. Barnard explains why we develop habits for these foods and suggests combating food drug addiction with a three-week diet that changes food preferences, activates the motor system and improves sleep. The main foods allowed for consumption in this diet are rice, vegetables, beans, etc., but the consumption of meat and dairy products is kept to a minimum. In practice, such a diet gives effective reduction weight, reducing blood sugar levels, improving well-being and increasing self-esteem.
Therefore, if you are trying to normalize your weight, then pay attention to the amount of cheese products you consume. Despite the addictive nature of cheese, there is no reason to give it up. But keep its fat content and portions under control. And then you will have no reason to worry about being a cheese addict. Such an addiction will only benefit your body.
From birth, milk causes us a strong food addiction; for a baby it is the only source of nutrients and building substances. At a certain age, we grow teeth in order to switch to a more varied solid food. But why do we continue to crave milk, which in nature is intended only for babies?
Still, it’s not for nothing that the concept of “milk” is in drug slang. According to scientists, it is addictive and addictive, thanks to the same opiates. In 1981, a group of scientists from Welcome Research Laboratories (North Carolina) made an unexpected discovery. After analyzing samples of cow's milk, researchers found traces of morphine in it, albeit in small quantities. In fact, morphine has been found not only in cow's milk, but also in human milk. Morphine is an opiate and is quickly addictive. How did it get into the milk? The first version of the origin of morphine was associated with the nutrition of cows. After all, morphine, used for medical purposes, is extracted from poppy seeds, but it is also produced by some other plants that could end up in cow feed. However, it later turned out that the cows produce it themselves. How? Small amounts of morphine, along with codeine and other opiates, are produced in the liver of cows and can pass into milk.
As further research showed, these were only flowers. Cow's milk - like any other type of milk - contains a protein called casein, which, when broken down during digestion, releases a whole range of opiates called casomorphins. A cup of cow's milk contains about six grams of casein. Skim milk contains even more of it, and casein reaches its highest concentration in cheese.
A thirty-gram piece of cheese contains about five grams of casein. If you look at a molecule through a powerful microscope, it looks like a long chain of beads (“beads” are amino acids, that is, the building blocks from which proteins are built in the body). When you drink milk or eat cheese, stomach acid and gut bacteria chop the casein molecular chains into casomorphins of varying lengths. One of them, a short string of five amino acids, has a pain-relieving power one-tenth that of morphine.
What do opiates even do in milk? Initially in mother's milk, they have a calming effect on the baby and, apparently, significantly strengthen the bond between mother and child. In wise Nature, psychological connections always have a physical basis. Whether we like it or not, mother's milk has a narcotic effect on the baby's brain. Thus, Nature guarantees the establishment of a vitally close connection between the baby and his mother: he suckles at the breast and receives the necessary nutrients. Like heroin and codeine, casomorphins suppress intestinal motility and clearly have an antidiarrheal function. Because of the opiate effect of cheese, adults often find that they feel high. Opiate painkillers also have a fixing effect.
Another important point– Cow’s milk is very different from human milk. Cow's milk is rich in casein, which gives it curds White color, and poor in whey, the protein that remains in the watery part after milk has curdled. Human breast milk is the opposite: low in casein and high in whey.
The extent to which dairy opiates can enter the adult bloodstream remains an open question. Until the 90s of the last century, it was believed that the too large size of protein particles does not allow them to penetrate through the intestinal wall into the blood, except in a child, whose digestive tract is not yet so picky about what passes through it. According to that theory, the action of milk opiates was limited to the area of the digestive tract, and they delivered pleasure to the brain indirectly, through hormones.
In experiments where volunteers were given skim milk and yogurt, French scientists were able to convincingly prove that at least a small number of casein particles do end up in the blood. Moreover, their maximum concentration is observed forty minutes after eating.
Other researchers have found that when dairy products are part of a nursing woman's diet, cow's milk proteins pass from her digestive tract into her bloodstream and into her own milk in quantities sufficient to cause stomach upset and colic in the infant.
Several other surprising—and disappointing—discoveries were made. Human milk, like cow's milk, contains casein, although in smaller quantities and in a slightly different form. After studying a group of women who had recently given birth, Swedish scientists concluded that opiates from breast milk sometimes they travel from the chest through the blood to the brain. Some women with particularly high levels of opiates in their blood—opiates derived from casein in their own breast milk—developed postpartum psychosis.
Scientists have long suspected that this syndrome, accompanied by confusion, hallucinations and delusions (symptoms that go beyond the mood swings characteristic of postpartum depression, a more common phenomenon), cannot simply be attributed to the stress of childbirth, the onset of the burden of motherhood and separation from a carefree mother. youth. Obviously, something was poisoning the new mothers’ brains. The Swedes suggested that this “something” was an opiate released from casein in mother’s milk.
The fact is that casein is as much a drug as a nutrient, and forms the basis of all milk-containing products, especially cheese. Remember the mouse from the cartoon, which at the sight of cheese became like a zombie (“Syyyyrrrr”)? The same thing happens to us. And thanks to Hollywood products, this effect is only strengthened.
By defeating the temptation of cheese and milk, you can get rid of a huge amount of not just fat, but the most harmful type of fat. Most of the fats in cheese are saturated fats, the type that increases blood cholesterol levels, the risk of clogged arteries and heart disease, even though it is the main cause of atherosclerosis. Cheese also contains a lot of salts, which contribute to the leaching of calcium from the body.
Cheese is still presented by the meat and dairy industry-lobbied media as an essential source of calcium, but calcium is the most large quantities and a more digestible form is found in beans, seeds, green vegetables and plant leaves. Also, parting with dairy proteins in your diet can help get rid of headaches. Dairy products are one of the most common allergens, so consuming them can lead to digestive difficulties, asthma and other problems. There is no need to put up with pain and other symptoms; escaping from cheese captivity once and for all can bring long-awaited relief.
In conclusion, the author of the China Study, Dr. Colin Campbell, after decades of laboratory research, discovered that casein is a powerful cancer promoter. By increasing and decreasing the dose of casein in food, he could literally “turn on” and “turn off” the development of cancer. So there's something to think about here.
It's time to tie it up and the nearest detox marathon :):
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Researchers from the University of Michigan have proven that some foods are quite addictive. During the experiment, 500 university students rated their eating habits on the Yale scale. It measures food cravings and identifies the foods that are most addictive. According to the survey, pizza took first place. In general, this is not surprising. Who doesn't love this cheesy tomato bliss?
jeffreyw/Flickr.comBut it turned out that the taste and aroma of pizza alone is not enough to set the delivery number to speed dial. It's about the cheese.
Milk contains the protein casein. During digestion, it breaks down and releases a range of opiates called casomorphins. They stimulate dopamine receptors and cause a feeling of satisfaction.
The cheese is simply stuffed with casein and makes us want to eat it again and again. That is why some scientists have gone even further and called cheese “milk cocaine.”
Robert Cause-Baker/Flickr.com Thanks to the study, scientists were able to find out other facts. For example, people are less likely to eat low-fat foods. Unprocessed foods, such as brown rice or fresh fruits and vegetables, are not as addictive as fast food.
We can consume processed foods in large quantities and at fairly high rates. Scientists tend to believe that this behavior is very similar to how drug addicts behave. Therefore, it seems to them that thermally processed food is truly addictive.
Food addiction is directly related to a person, but the study showed that this is not enough to create a sustainable behavior pattern. Fatty processed foods cause certain reactions in the brain: we want to eat some more. And a little more.
So, if you find yourself near the refrigerator at three o'clock in the morning in search of something tasty, know that you are talking about the desire to receive satisfaction. And this habit has been developed over many years.
Understanding the chemical processes that lead to food addiction will help break the stereotype that all overeating people are undisciplined.
There is still no point in saying that those who struggle with food addiction are lazy or do not have the required level of food addiction. It's like blaming an alcoholic for his daily struggle with the urge to go to a bar and get drunk. After all, finding ready-made, fatty, triple-processed food is now much easier than buying a healthy lunch. Childhood obesity shining example. In light of this, discussions about the real causes of overeating and obesity may resume.
Knowledge is power. Therefore, let's start fighting our own bad eating habits, understanding everything chemical processes occurring in the body. Of course, no one is calling for you to destroy cheese and grab salads right away. But perhaps the realization that you're fostering a fast food habit will make you want to put that fifth slice of pizza back in the box.
Incredible, but true: there are many people in the world who are... addicted to cheese. And there is an explanation for this. Back in 1981, a group of scientists from the Wellcome Research Laboratories of North Carolina identified traces of chemical substance, extremely similar to morphine. Later it became known that this drug, which is classified as an opiate and is highly addictive, is found not only in cow's milk, but also in human milk. Despite the fact that the concentration of morphine is extremely low, it is enough to cause a certain dependence in a person. It is also interesting that subsequent investigations made it possible to identify other narcotic substances in dairy products, namely a certain protein (casein), which during digestion is converted into a whole set of opiates, called casomorphins. The most interesting thing is that the highest concentration of the latter can be found in cheese: for 30 g of cheese there is approximately 5 g of casein. So, cheese addiction is not the whims of a gourmet, but ordinary biochemistry.
Cheese may contain traces of infection
According to the international organization for the ethical treatment of animals, PETA, cows that are raised for the purpose of being used in the dairy industry actually produce much lower quality milk than their other counterparts. The reason is hormones and antibiotics that are pumped into animals to increase milk production. Because of such chemistry, cows develop various inflammatory processes (hyperinfections that cannot be treated with antibiotics, but, on the contrary, caused by loss of sensitivity to antibiotics), most often associated with genitourinary system. It is not surprising that milk collected from such cows may contain impurities not only of the drugs that were “fed” to the animals, but also traces of infection that developed during the “work” of the animal. For humans, this can lead to heart disease, diabetes, cancer and many other ailments.
Cheese causes obesity, heart disease, diabetes
Cheese is a high-calorie product: up to 70% of it consists of saturated (“bad”) fats. Like other animal products, it also contains an impressive percentage of “bad” cholesterol. Thanks to this “healthy” composition, consuming cheese in large quantities can cause diabetes, various heart and vascular diseases, and also serve as an impetus for the development of obesity, especially in children.
Cheese contains animal digestive enzyme
For the production of many cheeses, veal rennet rennin is used in production, which is the dried and processed part of the stomach of a ruminant animal. This enzyme is necessary for the fermentation of milk. By the way, our stomachs also produce this enzyme. And if you do not have a deficiency of this enzyme, then additional consumption of it can lead to disruptions in the functioning of the stomach (the appearance of lazy stomach syndrome). The most unpleasant thing about this point is that rennin can often be found in vegan cheeses, which contradicts the very essence of such products.
Cheese can cause fetal pathologies
There are a number of cheese varieties that contain bacteria that can cause listeriosis. infectious disease With high level lethality. The disease is especially dangerous for pregnant women, as it can cause various fetal pathologies, including stillbirth.
Cheese causes kidney disease
Despite the significant benefits of cheese, rich in various vitamins, as well as pantothenic acid, which has a beneficial effect on the nervous system and helps fight stress, its harm in some cases can exceed all positive sides. Thus, some types of cheese are rich in sodium, which can lead to impaired kidney function, as well as problems with the genitourinary system. Cheese, in particular the “Russian” type, can have a diuretic effect, increasing the symptoms of pyelonephritis or urolithiasis.
On a note…
- The recommended intake of cheese is 200 grams per week. This is the amount that is safe for humans in every sense.
- Eating cheese at night is a bad idea. Cheese, like other dairy products, requires special effort and conditions for digestion. Most likely, the product will not have time to be completely processed before you go to bed, which means it may begin to ferment in the stomach, causing bad sleep and tiredness in the morning.
- It is best to eat cheese before 12 noon, when the stomach can handle any food. This way the cheese will have time to be completely digested and give our body its beneficial properties.
- Cheese should only be eaten fresh, otherwise there is a high risk of poisoning.
- Due to the high salt content, feta cheese is not recommended for use in case of kidney problems, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the liver, pancreas and biliary tract.
- Processed cheeses are more likely than others to cause allergies, as they contain large amounts of phosphate additives and Various types harmful salts.
Is fondue season your favorite part of fall? Do you eat cheese at night, thinking that it will not harm? Are you that friend who brings brie to a party instead of a bottle of wine? This is not your fault. According to a study conducted by scientists from the University of Michigan, cheese products may actually be addictive.
Research
The researchers recruited about 500 people for two separate tests. In one, participants completed a questionnaire designed to screen for food addiction (it included questions such as “I eat until I feel physically ill”). Participants then indicated which foods on the list they believed were most likely to be addictive. In the second study, they also completed an addiction questionnaire and then rated each food on the list based on how difficult it was for them to quit. 
Addictive Products
The results of the study were published in the journal PLoS ONE, and they won't surprise you. Pizza topped the list of addictive foods, followed by chocolate, chips and cookies. Cheeseburgers and cheese have also been cited as addictive.
So what makes pizza so tempting? main reason is that it is processed and the second reason is that it contains a lot of cheese. Scientists also predict that foods high in fat are more likely to be addictive, regardless of whether you have a tendency to overeat. 
When it comes to your favorite foods, the situation can sometimes be very serious. Previous research has shown that a small group of people actually show signs of abuse of an addictive substance, even if it is food. 
Why is there a cheese addiction?
Dr Neil Barnard, who chairs the Doctors' Committee for Responsible Medicine, explained why cheese causes this reaction. It turns out the reason is that this product contains the protein casein, which creates casomorphins when milk product digested in your body. Casomorphins attach to opiate receptors in the brain, producing a calming effect in much the same way that drugs do. In fact, because cheese is processed to rid it of its liquid, it becomes an incredibly concentrated source of casomorphins. More research is needed to determine how casomorphins affect the brain. Plus, while we actually love cheese, it contains nutrients that make it different from harmful products causing addiction. 
While researchers believe cheese is unhealthy and addictive, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll experience any discomfort if you stop eating it. In fact, scientists say that eating low-fat dairy products may reduce your risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. So, as they say, everything is good in moderation, even when we're talking about about cheese “addiction”.
