--- title: Cheese Crack Study: Why It's Not True description: Headlines arguing cheese is as addictive as cocaine have it wrong. canonical: https://time.com/4090741/cheese-addictive/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-28T16:48:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:19.487Z article:section: Health og:title: Cheese Crack Study: Why It's Not True og:description: Headlines arguing cheese is as addictive as cocaine have it wrong. og:url: https://time.com/4090741/cheese-addictive/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e05b85445c63980/69886e80524fc0cbe2df53a9/brie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4925 og:image:height: 2770 og:image:alt: 126552786 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cheese Crack Study: Why It's Not True twitter:description: Headlines arguing cheese is as addictive as cocaine have it wrong. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e05b85445c63980/69886e80524fc0cbe2df53a9/brie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # No, Cheese Is Not Really 'Like Cocaine' > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Know Right Now: Why You Should Eat More Cheese [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Why You Should Eat More Cheese](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/N7GbiqCf.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-04-14. A new study says cheese may not be as bad for us as we think._ by [Robert J. Davis](https://time.com/author/robert-j-davis/) ## Robert J. Davis Oct 28, 2015 4:48 PM UTC  Bottle of olive oil with olive Bottle of olive oil with olive Getty Images by [Robert J. Davis](https://time.com/author/robert-j-davis/) ## Robert J. Davis Oct 28, 2015 4:48 PM UTC If you’re looking for an excuse to wolf down that double-cheese pizza for lunch, you may have found it in a news story that’s gone viral. Among the headlines: “Cheese Is as Addictive as Cocaine,” “Cheese Really Is Crack,” and “Study Finds That Cheese Is Just as Addictive as Drugs.” The problem is that [the ](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4334652)[study cited in these stories](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4334652) found no such thing. Researchers at the University of Michigan asked participants to report which foods in a list were most difficult to cut down on or eat in a controlled way. Not surprisingly, highly processed foods with added fat and refined carbohydrates—things like ice cream, French fries, cookies, chips and cake—topped the list. Cheese ranked somewhere in the middle; it was considered less addictive than sugary, processed foods but more so than steak, eggs, bananas, and broccoli. Pizza was near the top of the list, but just because pizza has cheese on it doesn’t mean it’s solely to blame for pizza’s irresistibility. Going beyond the study, many of the news reports speculated that cheese may be addictive because of a protein in dairy products called casein. When broken down during digestion, casein releases substances called casomorphins, which according to a registered dietician who was quoted in many of the stories, have an addictive effect on the brain similar to that of morphine. But in fact the evidence is weak that casomorphins, when digested, affect most of us this way. And the dietician who made the questionable claim works for an advocacy group called [Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine](http://www.pcrm.org/), which pushes veganism and urges people to shun cheese. Hardly an objective voice. The widespread attention to this story reminds us that what’s really addictive is sensationalized headlines about what we eat. Too bad there’s no treatment for that. _Robert J, Davis is the author of_ [_Coffee Is Good for You: The Truth About Diet and Nutrition Claims_](http://www.coffeeisgoodforyoubook.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4090741/cheese-addictive/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4090741/cheese-addictive/"},"headline":"No, Cheese Is Not Really 'Like Cocaine'","datePublished":"2015-10-28T16:48:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:19.487Z","description":"It's not brain chemistry making you binge","url":"https://time.com/4090741/cheese-addictive/","keywords":["Viewpoint","Research","Cocaine","Cheese","Diet & Nutrition"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e05b85445c63980/69886e80524fc0cbe2df53a9/brie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Robert J. 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