A Look at Your Brain on Dairy Products

Is there someone you know who just has to have a tall, cold glass of milk two or three or four times a day? Do your kids always scream for ice cream? Are you someone who eats cheeseburgers for the cheese?

Dairy products, particularly cow's milk, are literally addictive. The culprit in cow's milk is a protein called casein. This protein can circulate intact through the bloodstream and even cross the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain. Once inside the brain, it attaches to specialized receptors sites and activates neurons that generate the "yum" response many people also get to beef, wheat, and sugar.

The feeling of satisfaction we get from the casein in milk isn't exactly like the sensation we get from fruity flavors or spicy flavors or even (despite what advocates of vegan diets like to tell us) savory flavors from eating meat. Casein is transformed into chemicals that reset the biological clocks in our brains to tell us that it is bedtime. Some people literally get the feeling of being tucked into bed when they consume dairy products.

Our brains respond to casein proteins in some of the same ways they respond to morphine and alcohol. And the greater your brain's genetic tendency to be addicted to stimulants such as methamphetamines, the greater the effect of milk products, especially cow's milk products, on your brain chemistry.

And This Is Your Brain on Cheeseburgers

The brain's response to casein, which is especially abundant in cow's milk, is the reason many people find dairy products to be addictive. But the addictive power of milk is magnified when it is consumed with two other commonly addictive foods, wheat and meat.

Wheat contains compounds known as exorphins, which act in the brain in the same way as the pain-relieving chemical morphine. If you feel better after you eat bread, bagels, and baked goods, it's probably because the exorphins in wheat have calmed and relaxed you. From the perspective of the wheat plant, this is a very good thing. If you are lounging around on the couch after eating some wheat products, you won't eat more, leaving the wheat with more opportunities to reproduce.

There are also compounds called mu-opioids in beef blood. They are not broken down by cooking. These chemicals also circulate to the brain to give you a feeling of relaxation, safety, security, and satisfaction.

Add wheat and meat to milk and cheese and you have a potently addictive food combination. The more you eat, the more you want, except you become too lazy to cook it. You want your wheat and meat and dairy from a fast food place. You certainly don't want to get out in the wheat fields with a scythe, you don't want to take Flossie to the barn for milking, and you don't want to herd your cow to the butcher shop. You just want your cheeseburger now.

OK, I Get It, But I Still Want My Milk

If you know you are addicted to milk and you know your health would benefit from not drinking quite as much, why not try the next best thing, almond milk?

Low in carbohydrate but (as processed) high in calcium, almond milk is almost like milk in terms of nutritional content. It looks like milk, and drinks like milk, but it doesn't lock into addictive centers in your brain. If you are a dairy addict, try at least adding a bit of almond milk into your daily routine.