Is Cheese Like a Drug?

Investigating the Science Behind Its Addictive Nature

Have you ever wondered why you can’t stop eating cheese? Why one slice of pizza turns into three? Why mac and cheese feels like a warm, comforting hug you just can’t resist?

What if I told you cheese isn’t just food — it’s playing with your brain in ways you’ve probably never imagined. Believe it or not, cheese acts eerily similar to opioids, the compounds behind some of the world’s most addictive substances.

And the science behind it might just change the way you look at your favorite cheesy treats forever.

The Craving We All Know

It all started innocently enough. I was prepping for a food science talk with a Girl Scout troop, searching for fun facts to wow them. That’s when I first stumbled upon the idea that cheese has opioid-like effects.

As a lifelong Wisconsinite — aka someone who probably eats more cheese than is socially acceptable — I was shook. I grew up surrounded by dairy farms, cheese curds, and Friday fish fries. How had I never heard of this?

Naturally, I had to dig deeper. I found doctors calling cheese “dairy crack,” which felt extreme.

So, I did what any food scientist would do — I dove into the research. And what I found blew my mind.

When Food Acts Like a Drug: The Case of Casomorphins

Turns out, cheese isn’t alone in having opioid-like effects — several foods contain proteins that can act this way. But these proteins don’t stimulate our brains directly.

It’s when these proteins are broken down into smaller compounds that they can interact with receptors in our brain. For cheese, this can happen during digestion after we eat it or during the fermentation process in dairy products.