Cheese addiction. Scientists believe cheese is addictive


Do you love cheese the way I love it? When one of my boyfriends on a date once asked me what product I love the most and would like to eat right now, I, without hesitation, answered: "Cheese!" A bit salty. Better in a large hole. Or marbled yellow-white. And even better - elite, with mold.

Sometimes, for a gastronomic holiday, a plate of cheese cubes, a vase of liquid honey and a rosette with nuts are enough for me. And I also feel uncomfortable, anxious and restless when the cheese runs out, and I understand that tomorrow I will not have this delicacy for breakfast. After all, my ideal morning meal is a hot white bread sandwich with a slice of ham and drips of melted cheese. Without the latter, this whole composition loses much of its taste for me.

The hype around drug addiction to cheese was generated by a book by an American scientist and President of the Committee of Physicians on the Introduction of New Drugs Dr. Neil Barnard, Breaking Down Food Temptations: Hidden Causes of Food Addiction and Seven Steps to Overcome Them Naturally. In it, Dr. Barnard connects the narcotic properties of cheese with the content in it casein - a substance produced by the liver of dairy cows. Casein is a protein that, in the process of digestion by our gastrointestinal tract, breaks down and produces the substance casomorphin. Already the very name of the latter involuntarily suggests parallels with morphine.

Casomorphine is similar in composition to, but still not as strong a drug as the latter. Although it must be recognized that casomorphin is still capable of causing some dependence on products containing it. Indeed, just like in the case of opium, casomorphin, acting on the brain, triggers mechanisms in it that give a feeling of increased pleasure, a relaxing effect. A person is so arranged that he strives for positive emotions. And since cheese delivers them, then we want to eat it over and over 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 casomorphin is found in all dairy products: regular milk, cottage cheese and even in breast milk. So what happens? Do babies get their first drugs with mother's milk? To some extent, yes. This partly explains the addiction of newborns to the breast milk of their mothers. But the comparison between casomorphine and morphine is too exaggerated. He is not capable of exerting a serious influence on the brain. On the contrary, cheese is one of those foods that can put our nervous system in order. It satisfies hunger well, is absorbed for a long time and does not exert strong pressure on the walls of the stomach. As a result, our brain quickly receives a satiety signal. We are full, which means that we are calm and able to enjoy life.

In addition, cheese contains many useful substances: calcium, which is so necessary for bones, protein required by our muscles, vitamins of group B. Therefore, you cannot refuse cheese at all. But it is necessary to monitor its fat content. It's best not to put anything in your grocery basket with 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 "drug-cheese" in any Internet search engine, you will be offered hundreds of notes and so and so "re-singing" the news about the content of cheese and causing addiction to the popular dairy product.

In fact, Dr. Barnard's goal was not to disrupt the global cheese industry and force people to abandon this product. His research is aimed at helping overweight people. In his book, he explains to readers that we often gain 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 fighting drug addiction with a three-week diet that changes food habits, activates locomotives 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 minimized. In practice, such a diet provides effective weight loss, reduced blood sugar levels, improved well-being and increased self-esteem.

Therefore, if you seek to normalize your weight, then pay attention to the amount of cheese products consumed. Despite the addiction that cheese causes, there is no reason to give it up. But take control of its fat content and portions. And then you will have no reason to worry that you are a cheese addict. Such dependence will only benefit your body.

Milk from birth causes us a strong food addiction, for a baby it is the only source of nutrients and building materials. At a certain age, we grow our teeth to switch to a more varied solid food. But why do we still have a craving for milk, which in nature is intended only for babies?

Still, it is not in vain that there is the concept of “milk” in drug addiction 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, the 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 rapidly addictive. How did he get into the milk? The first version of the origin of morphine was associated with the nutrition of cows. After all, morphine, used for medicinal purposes, is obtained from poppy, but some other plants that could get into the feed of cows also produce it. 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 studies showed, these were only flowers. Cow's milk - like milk of any other kind - 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 the highest concentration of casein is found in cheese.

A thirty-gram slice 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 of which proteins are built in the body). When you drink milk or eat cheese, stomach acid and intestinal bacteria shred the casein molecular chains into different lengths of casomorphins. One of them, which is a short string of five amino acids, has an analgesic power of one tenth that of morphine.

What exactly do opiates do in milk? They are initially found in human milk to have a calming effect on the infant and appear to significantly strengthen the bond between mother and child. In wise Nature, psychological connections always have a physical background. Whether we like it or not, breast milk has a narcotic effect on the baby's brain. Thus, Nature seals with a guarantee the establishment of a vital close bond between the baby and the mother: he sucks the breast and receives the necessary nutrients. Like heroin and codeine, casomorphins inhibit intestinal motility and, unambiguously, have an antidiarrheal function. Due to the opiate effect of cheese, adults often notice that they are strengthened. Opiate pain relievers also have a fixing effect.

Another important point is that cow's milk is very different from human milk. Cow's milk is rich in casein, which gives the curd a white color, and poor in whey, a protein that remains in the watery part after milk clotting. Human breast milk, on the other hand, is low in casein and high in whey.

To what extent dairy opiates can enter the adult bloodstream remains an open question. Until the 90s of the last century, it was believed that too large a size of protein particles did not allow them to penetrate through the intestinal wall into the blood, unless 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 \u200b\u200bthe digestive tract, and they delivered pleasure to the brain indirectly, through hormones.

In experiments, when volunteers were given skim milk and yogurt, French scientists were able to convincingly prove that at least a small number of casein particles do get into the blood. Moreover, their maximum concentration is observed forty minutes after eating.

Other researchers have found that when dairy products are part of a breastfeeding woman's diet, cow's milk proteins pass from her digestive tract into the bloodstream and into her own milk in amounts 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 amounts and in a slightly different form. Having studied a group of women who have recently given birth to a child, Swedish scientists have concluded that opiates from breast milk sometimes travel from the breast through the blood to the brain. Some women with particularly high levels of opiates in their blood - opiates derived from the casein of their own breast milk - have developed postpartum psychosis.

Scientists have long suspected that this syndrome, accompanied by confusion, hallucinations, and delusions (symptoms that go beyond the mood swings that are more common in postpartum depression, which is more common), cannot simply be attributed to birth stress, the burden of maternal responsibilities, and parting with a reckless youth. Obviously, the brain of new mothers was poisoned. The Swedes assumed that this "something" is the opiate released from the casein in breast milk.

The fact is that casein is as much a drug as it is a nutrient and forms the basis of all milk-containing products, especially cheese. Remember the cartoon mouse that looked like a zombie at the sight of cheese (“Syyyrrrrr”)? The same happens to us. And thanks to Hollywood products, this effect is only consolidated.

Defeating the temptation of cheese and milk, you can get rid of a huge amount of not just fat, but its most harmful variety. Most of the fat in cheese is saturated fat, the type that increases blood cholesterol, the risk of clogged arteries and heart disease, even though this is the main cause of atherosclerosis. Cheese also contains a lot of salts, which helps to wash out calcium from the body.

Cheese is still touted by media lobbied by the meat and dairy industry as an indispensable source of calcium, but calcium is found in the largest quantities and more digestible form in beans, seeds of green vegetables and plant leaves. Also, parting with milk proteins in the diet can help relieve headaches. Dairy products are one of the most common allergens, so consuming them is fraught with digestive difficulties, asthma and other problems. There is no need to put up with pain and other symptoms; escaping the cheese captivity once and for all can bring welcome relief.

Finally, the author of the China Study, Dr. Colin Campbell, after decades of laboratory research, discovered that casein is a potent supporter of cancer. By increasing and decreasing the dose of casein in food, he could literally “turn on” and “turn off” the development of cancer. So, there is something to think about.

It's time to tie n and the next detox marathon :):

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The American scientist claims that cheese addiction is no less strong than the dependence of the human body on morphine. Dr. Neil Barnard, president of the Internal Medicine Committee of Physicians, argues that cheese addiction can be developed because each bite of the aged treat contains a small amount of morphine produced by the liver of cows. In his book Breaking Food Temptations: Hidden Reasons for Addiction food and seven steps to overcome them naturally ”he explains why people often develop a habit of certain foods, such as cheese, meat, sugar or chocolate. He says: “There is a biochemical reason why so many of us feel we cannot live without a daily dose of something. Cheese, for example, contains a lot of casein, a protein that, when broken down during digestion, produces an opium its composition resembles morphine and is called casomorphine. It is through these sedative drugs that infants are believed to develop a strong attachment to their mother during breastfeeding. Likewise, it is not surprising that with age we become hostages of the refrigerator. " Dr. Barnard says his research is aimed at helping obese people. In addition, according to him, it is necessary to sue fast food restaurants that are ruining people by making them pizza or hamburger addicted. The doctor has developed a three-week diet and lifestyle program to help people get rid of "food drugs" by changing their dietary habits, energizing their lives a little, and improving sleep.

The American scientist claims that cheese addiction is no less strong than the dependence of the human body on morphine.

Dr. Neil Barnard, president of the Internal Medicine Committee of Internal Medicine, argues that cheese addiction can be developed because each bite of the aged treat contains a small amount of morphine produced by the liver of cows.

In his book Breaking Down Food Addiction: The Hidden Causes of Food Addiction and Seven Steps to Overcoming It Naturally, he explains why people often develop habits for certain foods, such as cheese, meat, sugar or chocolate.

Why

He states: “There is a biochemical reason why so many of us feel like we cannot live without a daily dose of something. Cheese, for example, contains a lot of casein, a protein that, when broken down during digestion, produces an opium-like morphine-like substance called casomorphin.

It is because of these sedatives that infants are believed to develop a strong attachment to their mother during breastfeeding. ”

Dr. Barnard believes his research is aimed at helping obese people. The doctor has developed a three-week diet, a lifestyle program that helps people get rid of “food drugs” by changing habits, revitalizing life, and improving sleep.
MIGnews.com

Researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that certain foods are highly addictive. In an experiment, 500 university students rated their eating habits on the Yale scale. It measures food cravings and identifies the foods that are most addictive. The first place, according to the survey, was taken by pizza. In general, it is not surprising. Who doesn't love this cheese and tomato bliss?

jeffreyw / Flickr.com

But it turned out that the taste and aroma of pizza alone are not enough to set a delivery number for a speed dial. It's about the cheese.

Milk contains casein protein. During digestion, it breaks down and releases a variety of opiates called casomorphins. They stimulate dopamine receptors and provide a sense of satisfaction.

Cheese is simply stuffed with casein and makes us want to get it over and over again. This is why some scientists went 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 foods that are low in fat. Unprocessed foods such as brown rice or fresh fruits and vegetables are not as addictive as fast food.

We can consume thermally processed food in large quantities and at a fairly high rate. 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 a real addiction.

Food addiction is directly related to a person, but research has shown that this is not enough for the formation of a sustainable behavior scenario. Fatty, processed food triggers certain reactions in the brain: we want to eat a little 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 the desire for satisfaction speaks in you. And this habit has been developed over the years.

Understanding the chemical processes that lead to food addiction can help break the stereotype that all overeating people are not disciplined.

It is still not worth arguing that those who struggle with food addiction are lazy or do not have the required level. It's like blaming an alcoholic for the daily struggle with the urge to go to a bar and get drunk. Still, finding ready-made, fatty, triple-processed food is now much easier than buying a healthy lunch. Childhood obesity is a prime example. In light of this debate about the real causes of overeating and obesity, there may be a resurgence.

Knowledge is power. Therefore, let's start to fight our own bad eating habits, understanding all the chemical processes in the body. Of course, no one calls to destroy cheese and grab salads right away. But perhaps the realization that you yourself are cultivating the habit of eating fast food will force you to put the fifth slice of pizza back in the box.