Study Finds Cheese to be as Addictive as Hard Drugs

Hi, my name is Steph and I'm addicted to cheddar.

While cruising the internet, probably Facebook, I stumbled across an article about a study that hits a little too close to home for me. My Dad has family from Wisconsin, so cheese has always been second nature in my house. Also, being a lifelong Packers fan, it just goes with the territory to have cheese curds on Sunday watching the game. My family always called it "Game Day Cheese."  I'll admit I put cheese on a lot of stuff I eat.

But seeing this study on The Independent, makes me rethink my love of cheese just a bit. It states that scientists have found a chemical in cheese that is also found in hard drugs. The team behind the study wanted to find out why some foods are more addictive than others.

Using the Yale Food Addiction Scale, they found that cheese is pretty potent because it contains casein. Casein, which is found in all dairy products, can trigger ones brain opioid receptors linked to addiction.

Processed foods were the ones most associated with addictive tendencies and fatty foods were the most difficult to not eat. The study found that the top ranking foods on the addiction scale were the ones that contained cheese. This all makes sense to me, as they're the ones that are most delicious!

So the next time you eat an entire bag of cheese curds or even a pizza don't feel bad, it wasn't your fault. Science and your brain made you do it. That and we live right by Wisconsin, where the best cheese in the US is made!