Philosophical Vegan Forum

Ever since a biased scientist from the PCRM made a unsubstantiated claim that cheese is as addictive as a drug, and definitly that is based by Beta-casomorhine, SOOOO many vegans started parroting him as if the claim is proven fact.

There are no studies in existence that even hints that Casomorphine is an addictive substance, just as there is no studies showing that Rubiscolin in Spinach, or Soymorphine in Soy, is addictive to people who eat it.

But despite the complete lack of any evidence whatsoever, it is still being pressed today because ONE scientist who works at a biased politically-charged group who benefits from lying said so. Even Time Magazine said:

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, which pushes veganism and urges people to shun cheese. Hardly an objective voice.

Why do vegans STILL push this lie? All this does is make the movement look even more like a group of liars and agenda-pushing extremists. Are we going to start quoting The ICR next time?

ThatNerdyScienceGirl wrote: Why do vegans STILL push this lie? All this does is make the movement look even more like a group of liars and agenda-pushing extremists. Are we going to start quoting The ICR next time?

Well here are some thoughts as to why vegans still use this lie.

1. May never looked further into it.
2. May have looked into but didn't notice all reports had the same name in it.
3. A close friend may have told them and they believed their friend.
4. Know its a lie and just simply wants to use this lie to further their agenda (Sadly).
5. Know its a lie and thinks its okay to lie to others who uses lies as well (to "get on their level").
6. Or they just are idiots.

Lets hope they wont start quoting the ICR anytime soon or even better never.

Sometimes it seems like it. But it depends on the person.

Some people may have no problem using or quitting crack, others will get seriously hooked, and some people report an "addiction" to cheese, which I don't doubt, although we can't know what aspect of "cheese" causes this.

The only way to know would be to do some kind of controlled experiment providing the flavor and nutritional profile of cheese (umami, aroma, fats, sugars, salts) and seeing if it adequately replaces cheese in those who report addiction without knowing if it was replaced or not, or trying to isolate the casomorphines and seeing if addictive behavior can be observed in those alone.

The casomorphine argument is a poor argument to make for a couple reasons unrelated to the fact of the matter:

1. Just because something is addictive, doesn't mean it's bad (like possibly coffee, which in moderation could have health benefits, and addiction could keep somebody to a good habit). How awesome would it be if broccoli were addictive?
Cheese is bad because it's unhealthy, which is unrelated to its addictive properties, no matter the strength or cause.

2. Cheese is widely reported as addictive, and we don't need to focus on casomorphines to explain that -- its flavor and nutritional profile could easily do the job in terms of eating addictions.

Understanding the addictivity of food is useful in at least one sense: It helps us show compassion and understanding to those who have difficulty quitting the food, and puts the change in diet into a context like that of quitting cigarettes, where the same tips may help people succeed and avoid falling back off the wagon.

I must say, I have never partied with people eating cheese, who 15 minutes after the cheese was gone tried to sell their t.v. door to door to buy more cheese. So yeah, silly comparison.

PsYcHo wrote:I must say, I have never partied with people eating cheese, who 15 minutes after the cheese was gone tried to sell their t.v. door to door to buy more cheese. So yeah, silly comparison.

I bow my head in your direction, Nerdy Girl. Nice