Addictive and appetizing. Cheese.
What do addicts do now that we know?
November 26, 2010 For years people have been saying cheese is not a great food and for years I have responded with "I am addicted.to the stuff. Pass the nippy cheddar please."
And now I find out, cheese IS addictive. Apparently it contains morphine, a drug that I have always enjoyed when it was administered. One of the best things of surgery was waking hooked up to the self-administering morphine machine, set to prevent overdose of course. I would joke, "The things I go through for a little morphine!"
I never even tried to give up cheese. What was the purpose? Only when a cold or flu would I cut back until healthy again. I never really considered cheese to be a drug. But since the 1980's research contains trace amounts of morphine. Seriously.
In 1981, Eli Hazum and his colleagues at Wellcome Research Laboratories reported traces of the chemical morphine, a highly addictive opiate in cheese. It turns out that morphine is found in cow milk and human, purportedly to ensure offspring will bond very strongly with their mothers and get all the nutrients they need to grow.
What is an opiate doing there, hidden in milk proteins? It appears that the opiates from mother's milk produce a calming effect on the infant and, in fact, may be responsible for a good measure of the mother-infant bond. Psychological bonds always have a physical underpinning.
Mother's milk has a drug-like effect on the baby's brain that ensures that the infant will bond with Mom and continue to nurse and get the nutrients all babies need. Like heroin or codeine, casomorphins slow intestinal movements and have a decided antidiarrheal effect. The opiate effect may be why adults often find that cheese can be constipating, just as opiate painkillers are also constipating.
So how did morphine get into milk? At first, the researchers theorized that it must have come from the cows' diets. After all, morphine used in hospitals comes from poppies and is also produced naturally by a few other plants that the cows might have been eating. But it turns out that cows actually produce it within their bodies, just as poppies do. Traces of morphine, along with codeine
and other opiates, are apparently produced in cows' livers and can end up in their milk.
But that was only the beginning, as other researchers soon found. Cow's milk ~ or the milk of any other species for that matter ~ contains a protein, called casein, that breaks apart during digestion to release a whole host of opiates, called casomorphins.
A cup of cow's milk contains about six grams of casein. Skim milk contains a bit more, and casein is concentrated in the production of cheese.
Under a powerful microscope a casein molecule resembles a long chain of beads; the "beads" are amino acids ~ simple building blocks that combine to make up all the proteins in your body.
When you drink a glass of milk or eat a slice of cheese, stomach acid and intestinal bacteria snip the casein molecular chains into casomorphins of various lengths. One of them, a short string made up of just five amino acids, has about one-tenth the pain-killing potency of morphine.
Researchers also discovered the protein casein, which breaks into casomorphins when it is digested and also produces opiate effects. In cheese, casein is concentrated, and so is the level of casomorphins, so the pleasurable effect is greater. Neal Barnard, MD said, “Since cheese is processed to express out all the liquid, it’s an incredibly concentrated source of casomorphins ~ you might call it dairy crack.” (Source: VegetarianTimes.com)
One research paper states, “Casomorphins are peptides produced from the breakdown of CN and possess opioid activity. The term opioid refers to morphine-like effects which include signs of sedation, tolerance, sleep induction, and depression.” (Source: University of Illinois Extension)
And another research study conducted in Russia found that a type of casomorphin found in cow milk might impact human infant development negatively, specifically in a manner resembling autism.
To make matters worse, cheese also contains saturated fat and cholesterol, which contribute to heart disease. One ounce of cheese can contain a large amount of saturated fat. Check out this Fat Content of Cheese Chart.
A recent New York Times article states Americans now consume about 33 pounds of cheese each year. Reducing cheese and saturated fat consumption is something anyone can do to prevent heart disease, since “Unhealthy diets and lack of exercise may kill about 300,000 to 500,000 Americans each year.” (Source: Cspinet.org)
But as many know, cutting back on cheese can be challenging because of the good feelings ~ the opiate effects of casomorphins ~ it produces.
Chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a former self-described cheese addict said, “You need to give yourself a couple of months without cheese, some time to let your taste buds catch up with your ethics. It might sound like deprivation at first, but your body will adjust.”
“I started loving Brussels sprouts and butternut squash,” Moskowitz said. “I could taste the subtle difference between a raw and a toasted pumpkin seed. Once you figure out that you don’t have to cover everything in cheese, you start to become almost like a supertaster.” (Source: VegetarianTimes)
I know I am highly addicted but surely it would be worth the effort. Cheese also effects the joints and slows down the onset of various forms of arthritis, something else that needs to be considered. The control and discipline are not easy things to develop. It's enough to make me think about the emanthel lurking about in the fridge.
Read more:
So how did morphine get into milk? At first, the researchers theorized that it must have come from the cows' diets. After all, morphine used in hospitals comes from poppies and is also produced naturally by a few other plants that the cows might have been eating. But it turns out that cows actually produce it within their bodies, just as poppies do. Traces of morphine, along with codeine
But that was only the beginning, as other researchers soon found. Cow's milk ~ or the milk of any other species for that matter ~ contains a protein, called casein, that breaks apart during digestion to release a whole host of opiates, called casomorphins.
A cup of cow's milk contains about six grams of casein. Skim milk contains a bit more, and casein is concentrated in the production of cheese.
Under a powerful microscope a casein molecule resembles a long chain of beads; the "beads" are amino acids ~ simple building blocks that combine to make up all the proteins in your body.
When you drink a glass of milk or eat a slice of cheese, stomach acid
Researchers also discovered the protein casein, which breaks into casomorphins when it is digested and also produces opiate effects. In cheese, casein is concentrated, and so is the level of casomorphins, so the pleasurable effect is greater. Neal Barnard, MD said, “Since cheese is processed to express out all the liquid, it’s an incredibly concentrated source of casomorphins ~ you might call it dairy crack.” (Source: VegetarianTimes.com)
One research paper states, “Casomorphins are peptides produced from the breakdown of CN and possess opioid activity. The term opioid refers to morphine-like effects which include signs of sedation, tolerance, sleep induction, and depression.” (Source: University of Illinois Extension)
And another research study conducted in Russia found that a type of casomorphin found in cow milk might impact human infant development negatively, specifically in a manner resembling autism.
To make matters worse, cheese also contains saturated fat and cholesterol, which contribute to heart disease. One ounce of cheese can contain a large amount of saturated fat. Check out this Fat Content of Cheese Chart.
A recent New York Times article states Americans now consume about 33 pounds of cheese each year. Reducing cheese and saturated fat consumption is something anyone can do to prevent heart disease, since “Unhealthy diets and lack of exercise may kill about 300,000 to 500,000 Americans each year.” (Source: Cspinet.org)
But as many know, cutting back on cheese can be challenging because of the good feelings ~ the opiate effects of casomorphins ~ it produces.
Chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a former self-described cheese addict said, “You need to give yourself a couple of months without cheese, some time to let your taste buds catch up with your ethics. It might sound like deprivation at first, but your body will adjust.”
“I started loving Brussels sprouts and butternut squash,” Moskowitz said. “I could taste the subtle difference between a raw and a toasted pumpkin seed. Once you figure out that you don’t have to cover everything in cheese, you start to become almost like a supertaster.” (Source: VegetarianTimes)
I know I am highly addicted but surely it would be worth the effort. Cheese also effects the joints and slows down the onset of various forms of arthritis, something else that needs to be considered. The control and discipline are not easy things to develop. It's enough to make me think about the emanthel lurking about in the fridge.
Read more:
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