By Michael Pellman Rowland | Forbes.com
Which one torments you the most? Polly-O string cheese? The Cheddar Lovers Cheeseburger from Wendy’s? The Stuffed-Crust Pizza from Pizza Hut? All of them? You’re not alone. Cheese is one of the hardest habits to regulate day to day. What keeps most vegetarians from going whole-hog vegan? Not eggs. It’s the cheese. The salty, fatty goodness that makes you salivate should you get even a tiny whiff. It’s just so good, many will say. Well, there’s more to the story. You may, in fact, be hooked, so to speak.
It turns out there’s a reason behind our cravings. Cheese contains casein. It also contains casein fragments called casomorphins, a casein-derived morphine-like compound. Basically, dairy protein has opiate molecules built in. When consumed, these fragments attach to the same brain receptors that heroin and other narcotics attach to.
‘These opiates attach to the same brain receptors that heroin and morphine attach to. They are not strong enough to get you arrested, but they are just strong enough to keep you coming back for more, even while your thighs are expanding before your very eyes.' – Dr. Neal Barnard, author of The Cheese Trap
Some researchers believe this occurs as a way to ensure babies (humans, cows, etc.) continue to nurse during infancy, which helps the survival of the species. That helps explain why we look so happy when nursing and also why it feels so good to eat cheese.
