More cheese, please!

00:00:34
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Here to tell us all about the tantalizing wonder of cheese. It’s Genome BC’s own Sarah Lando. Oh, hey Sarah.

00:00:41
Sarah Lando: Hi Kaylee.

00:00:42
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Welcome to Gene Shorts. We are brie-yond excited to have you here.

00:00:46
Sarah Lando: Oh, the puns never stop, but I am so happy to be here. So Kaylee, let’s start off with a little sampling.

00:00:54
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Yeah, I have my first meal of the day in front of me and I’ve got some cheeses. I’ve got a nice little, cute little cube cheese here. Got another cheese sitting at the bottom. This cheese is really calling my name though, whatever this is about.

00:01:07
Sarah Lando: Yeah, I think you should eat it.

00:01:08
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Done.

00:01:09
Sarah Lando: As you chew it, what do you think?

00:01:10
Dr. Kaylee Byers: It’s creamy. She’s fresh, she’s bright. She’s going to be a people pleaser. Most people are going to like her.

00:01:16
Sarah Lando: I’m feeling really jealous right now, but I’m also so happy for you.

00:01:22
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Okay, Sarah, so let’s dive in. Why is it that we get such a hankering for these cheesy treats?

00:01:28
Sarah Lando: So cheese contains a protein called casein, and our digestive system breaks down that casein into a peptide called casomorphin, and casomorphin possesses opioid-like properties that release dopamine. And that’s kind of why it makes us feel good.

00:01:46
Dr. Kaylee Byers: That makes sense. I will say when I eat cheese, I do generally feel pretty good about myself and my life choices. So these casomorphins, are they unique to cheese? Do we get them in anything else?

00:01:57
Sarah Lando: Actually we do. So casein is a protein that is derived from milk. So all dairy products contain casein and casomorphins. So because of the amount of dairy needed to make cheese, the quantity of casein involved is enough to cause mild euphoric feelings.

00:02:16
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Okay, so it’s like you’d have to drink a lot of milk to get the same feeling maybe then from just eating a bite of this tasty cheese I have here in front of me.

00:02:23
Sarah Lando: Totally. It also means that harder cheeses like cheddar and Parmesan are more dense. They contain more of those dopamine-releasing chemicals than other soft cheeses like burrata or ricotta.

00:02:34
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Oh, okay. So we might get a little bit more of that feeling from a hard cheese versus a soft cheese.

00:02:39
Sarah Lando: Exactly. One reason why cheese is “addictive” is that cheese contains something called phenethylamine. This is an amino acid that can essentially make you feel good. It’s also found in chocolate. And then the third reason is that cheese is a really fatty and calorie-dense food. So just from an evolutionary standpoint, we innately want to consume foods that are rich in calories.

00:03:03
Dr. Kaylee Byers: So our bodies are programmed to like cheese for all those reasons that you just talked about. But you use some pretty heavy air quotes on the addictive quality. So does it really have that addictiveness that people attribute to cheese?

00:03:17
Sarah Lando: So this is where things get kind of out of hand. Back in 2015, there was a study that looked at the addictiveness of high-fat foods. The study found that high-fat/ highly processed foods were associated with a high food addiction rate. And cheese was a common denominator or ingredient listed in a lot of foods that made the list such as pizza, cheeseburgers and so on.

So even though the study itself didn’t mention cheese specifically, or cheese addiction, news headlines could not resist the opportunity to capitalize on the cheesy clickbait material. I’m going to send you this LA Times article.

00:03:55
Dr. Kaylee Byers: All right.

00:03:55
Sarah Lando: I want you to take a look and read the headline for me.

00:03:59
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Wow. It’s already got problems. Cheese really is crack. Study reveals cheese is as addictive as drugs. I’m going to say right off the top, it’s not, this is obviously misinformation.

00:04:10
Sarah Lando: Sorry to yuck your yum LA Times, but this is very misleading to say the least. Although cheese may make us feel good and we might find ourselves reaching for another slice of Camembert even when we’re not hungry. That is different than being addicted to it.

00:04:26
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Yeah, I think it also hints to the fact that we say something is “addictive” and it downplays what actual addiction is.

00:04:34
Sarah Lando: Totally.

00:04:35
Dr. Kaylee Byers: And it feels pretty gross for media to capitalize on that.

00:04:38
Sarah Lando: There is no scientific evidence that proves that cheese is actually addictive in the same way that drugs are. And although casein triggers the same part of your brain as some narcotics, the amount varies greatly. And its correlation has been overblown to a very large extent. In other words, the science to support that cheese is addictive is very weak.

00:04:57
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Okay, so this whole idea, all these news headlines like cheese is “addictive”, not true. But for some people it might give us a little bit of feel good feeling. So is there sort of a genomic element that might make us more cheese inclined?

00:05:12
Sarah Lando: So there are a few genetic factors that could make someone more likely to have those violent cheese cravings. Some studies have been done in mice and in humans looking at a gene called the MC4R gene. And this gene is linked to a preference for high fat foods.

So for some people, having this gene might mean that they naturally crave those high fat foods without even knowing it. It’s like their body is just wired to go for those energy packed options. Another study looked into something called olfactory receptor genes, and basically these genes affect how we smell and taste things.

There is one specific olfactory gene that’s linked exclusively to cheese, which means that for some people with this gene, it could make them perceive the smell and taste of cheese even more intensely, which may explain those stronger cravings. But ready for another disclaimer?

00:06:02
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Hmm-hmm.

00:06:03
Sarah Lando: One of the problems with a lot of these genomic studies is that they’re extremely small and not representative of our entire population. They don’t have enough people to really be able to identify genes in a way that is credible. And there’s still so much that we don’t know, but there is likely something in our genes that makes some of us more cheese inclined than others.

00:06:25
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Yeah, that’s super interesting. And I think this is one of the challenges when you see these headlines too, is you see a headline, you’re like, oh yeah, there’s a study, that actually if you dive into the study, there’s issues with this study. So I think it’s just… Always have a little bit of skepticism when you see these news headlines.

00:06:38
Sarah Lando: 100%. So in terms of a few takeaways, cheese is delicious and part of why that might be is because of what’s going on chemically in our bodies when we eat it. Our genes also play a part in our taste, but buzzy headlines can really distort studies even with something so innocuous as cheese. So always good to take it with a grain of salt and hopefully we see less of these headlines comparing cheese to cocaine.

00:07:04
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Yeah, let’s have less of that, please. That’s a fon-don’t. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for being here. You really melted our hearts with this cheese knowledge.

00:07:13
Sarah Lando: Aw Kaylee, you are so cheesy and I love it.

00:07:19
Dr. Kaylee Byers: Thanks for tuning in to the kickoff of our new round of Gene Shorts. Keep an eye on your feed. We’ll be serving up some retro Nice Genes episodes we are calling Genomic Repeats. For a blast from the past, along with fresh new Gene Shorts mini-sodes to keep you Camem-back. Until next time, stay curious and smell you later.

00:07:39
Boy: He said, “Smell you later.” But he never smelled me again.