Andrew Sun

Mouthing Off | Addicted to cheese, ramen, pizza? It’s not your fault – our bodies are hard-wired for it

A US student’s cheese addiction might have landed her a catchy tabloid headline, but there is a real reason we crave certain foods

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Ever been so obsessed with cheese that you ate whole blocks of it? One student’s US$6,000-a-week addiction tells us an awful lot about why our bodies crave certain food items. Photo: Getty Images

Andrew Sun

Published: 7:45am, 4 Jul 2024

A New York university student made the news recently when she went into rehab. Her addiction was not for drugs, booze, sex, or even her phone.

What she got hooked on was cheese.

The Manhattan law student, according to the New York Post, was blowing nearly US$6,000 a week on the smack substitute that is Camembert. Although she started on soft cheese, the 27 year-old soon turned to harder stuff, bingeing on bricks of cheddar and parmesan.

“I would literally just eat a block of cheese with my hands,” she told the tabloid, adding that she fed her habit, in true addict style, sitting on her apartment floor alone in the dark. “It was the only thing that would make me feel somewhat whole.”

Cheese contains a protein called casein that is known to have opiate properties. Photo: Getty Images

Apparently, she was doing up to 5.5 blocks of cheese per week, and blamed her addiction on stress. Her health was ruined as her weight ballooned to 78.5kg (173 pounds) and her menstruation stopped. Finally, she was able to beat her daily dairy habit after enrolling in a nearly US$6,000 two-week health and wellness retreat.