Cheese 'Can Be Addictive As Morphine'

Ananova ^ | 5-6-2003

[blam]

Cheese 'can be as addictive as morphine'

An American doctor has claimed that cheese can be as addictive as morphine.

Dr Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, says cheese is addictive because it contains small amounts of morphine from cows' liver.

In his book - Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings and Seven Steps to End them Naturally - he explains why people are hooked on products like cheese, meat, sugar and chocolate.

He says: "There's a biochemical reason many of us feel we can't live without our daily fix.

"Cheese, for example, contains high levels of casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion to produce morphine-like opiate compounds, called casomorphins.

"These opiates are believed to be responsible for the mother-infant bond that occurs during nursing. It's no surprise many of us feel bonded to the refrigerator."

Dr Barnard says his research could help overweight people currently suing fast food restaurants, by proving the food is addictive like tobacco.

He has developed a three-week diet and lifestyle program to help people kick their 'addiction' by changing their eating habits, exercising and sleeping well.

Story filed: 13:51 Friday 6th June 2003

[45Auto]

Dr. Barnard is a few threads short of a full screw; The hard part is getting all that cheese into the syringe.

[Khepera]

Ban Food!

[LibKill]

OK. Put the cuffs on me and take me away.

"It's a fair cop."

[drlevy88]

Velveeta!

[sackofcatfood]

Only one way to be sure: chop off his leg and give him some cheese, see if it helps...

[Drango]

Cheese? What next? A moose bit my sister?

[AntiGuv]

Hmmm.. Well, that explains a few things.. ;^)

[Right Wing Professor]

Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine is a PETA front.

[templar]

Dr Barnard says his research could help overweight people currently suing fast food restaurants, by proving the food is addictive like tobacco.

Or people testing positive for opiates on drug tests? I kinda tend to doubt the good Dr's competence here for some reason.

[Welsh Rabbit]

If eating cheese is wrong, I don't want to be right...

[Keith in Iowa]

>>...a few threads short of a full screw...

There's one I have not heard before...I like it :)

[colorado tanker]

Yeah, I tried to quit food once, and sure enough I found out I was addicted. Couldn't do without the stuff.

[RightWhale]

Cheese is not good for anyone over 21. But wild moose milk is fine, plus it is an excellent test of your reflexes if not your judgement.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

When will journalists learn the difference between an unsupported claim (which has no more credibility when it comes from an MD than it would from a cab driver) and an actual peer-reviewed study?

[EggsAckley]

Dr Barnard says his research could help overweight people currently suing fast food restaurants, by proving the food is addictive like tobacco.

How's that for a not-so-hidden agenda?

Actually, my all time favorite "comfort food" is a plain old grilled cheese sandwich. Maybe he's on to something. The problem is, he's too damn dumb to just say, "so what?".

[ancient_geezer]

Cheese 'can be as addictive as morphine'

not if you eat it with a moose chaser :O|

[Godel]

Cheese is my favorite food.

[LibKill]

Cheese? What next? A moose bit my sister?

HERE'S WHAT'S NEXT!!!! (Will open in window.)

[fishbabe]

and i thought i liked macaroni and cheese just because it tasted good....does that mean the gov't has to pay me money and rehab for cheese fiends like myself....