I haven't had a NE for months, but tonight I also had one. Actually I had two consecutive Os 2 and 3 days ago, so I was really not in the mood for sexual activity, but it still occured. In the morning I realized that my mistake must have been that I ate a few sandwitches with cheese in the evening. Even though cheese doesn't seem to do much to POIS itself I realized years ago that it makes me very prone to NE. It doesn't mean that I have NE every time I eat cheese, but this makes it very likely to happen. Eating it in the evening looks to be especially risky. Of course this was all due to an erotic dream, but I don't see why I dream about it when I haven't had any thought of it the whole day, while at other times I even watch some porn without an O and I still don't have such dreams.
Do you eat aged cheese, blue cheese, brie, cheddar or feta ? they all contains tyramine, which has an effect on monoamines metabolism (like dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyramine#Physical_effects_and_pharmacology .
I do not know if there is a link in your case of cheese vs NE, but it could be interesting to be investigated.
The cheese we consume most of the times is called Trappista cheese. It is a general consumer product which is not very expensive. The one I just ate is said to be lactose free, so this probably has nothing to do with NE at least. I rarely eat other kinds of cheese as they are expensive for my budget. I like the taste of cheese, but not to the degree I would say that I can't live without it.
Nevertheless thanks for the information about tyramine! I will keep an eye on it while reading articles. I will also try some of the cheese you mentioned to see if something similar happens, although I can't say my suspicion about this is absolutely confirmed. My intention was partially to raise awareness and see if others may have experienced something similar.
Recently I have been eating cheese rather regularly without such problems. These days I buy the cheese from a local shop that applies an ecological perspective and their products mostly lack additives and preservatives. The only downside is that this kind of cheese begins to spoil in a week, but I can live with that. However this may also imply that my problems of NE were not specifically due to cheese itself.
Recently I also read some posts about
annatto that got me thinking. It turns out that annatto is a colorant used in cheddar cheese and probably other types as well. Furthermore Trappista cheese is also coated with an annatto solution to give it a nice color.
Scholarly research claims that annatto is a good anti-oxidant and it may actually relive anxiety due to its very high tocotrienol content, which sounds really nice.
Now the interesting part here is that several people on reddit claim adverse effects relating to annatto. They say that it can increase anxiety, cause insomnia and nightmares. If this is true than it is easily possible that the vivid dreams I had in the past that also lead to NEs may have been actually caused by annatto. Of course this does not necessarily implicate tocotrienol, but there may be some other compounds in annatto that cause this.
Annatto is sold at some places and later I will buy some to see if it really causes vivid dreams and NEs. Nevertheless until then POISers may need to be aware of such a possibility as we may unknowingly fuel this mechanism with such hidden dietary elements.
Some research implies excessive catecholamines in conjunction with tyramine and annatto as was proposed before.
SULTs enzymes catalyze the sulfonation of both endobiotics and exobiotics: in particular, SULT1A enzymes protect humans from catecholamines. Natural substances in many foods were displayed to inhibit these enzymes in vitro, thus preventing normal catecholamine deactivation, leading to catecholamine increase, and subsequently blood pressure changes, migraine, palpitations and atrial fibrillation. SULT1A inhibition can cause the so-called "holiday heart" arrhythmias in susceptible patients, who probably have lower-activity SULT1A alleles. This alcohol consumption-related arrhythmia in healthy subjects may be due to catecholamines. Several researchers have studied the in vitro inhibition of SULT1A enzymes by food constituents and additives. Nishimuta et al., showed that orange juice, grapefruit juice and various teas significantly inhibit both SULT1A1 and SULT1A3. Chocolate, citrus, coffee, plants and many alcohols contain SULT1A inhibitors. Ice cream typically includes chocolate, fruit or plant-based flavorings such as vanillin or mint, and many sodas include natural flavorings from plants. It is commonly believed that a triggering ingredient in cheese is tyramine, however, several cheeses also include the natural food colouring annatto, which contains phenolics, such as hypolaetin and a caffeoyl acid derivative, and is most likely a SULT1A inhibitor. It is reasonable to hypothesize that an alcohol-based SULT1A inhibition, combined with a biogenic amines source (chocolate, cheese, ripened fruit or vegetable, stale fish or meat), can cause holiday heart in susceptible individuals. There is probably a genetic component to susceptibility to SULT1A inhibition, caused by lower-activity alleles of SULT1A1 and SULT1A3.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-841X/2/1/1SULT1A inhibition itself may not necessarily increase catecholamines though.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512001871
