Nightmare is over as study says cheese doesn't cause bad dreams

CHEESE does not give you nightmares at all, according to a new investigation into the truth of the old wife's tale.

But researchers also found that the type of cheese you eat can affect the type of dreams you have.

The study, perhaps unsurprisingly carried out by the British Cheese Board, involved 200 volunteers in a week-long cheese-eating experiment.

After eating a 20g piece of cheese 30 minutes before going to sleep, 72 per cent of the volunteers slept very well every night, 67 per cent remembered their dreams and none reported nightmares.

The British Cheese Board said that their study endorsed scientific fact.

Dr Judith Bryans, a nutrition scientist at The Dairy Council, said: "One of the amino acids in cheese - tryptophan - has been shown to reduce stress and induce sleep so cheese may actually help you have a good night's sleep."

It is not clear where the cheese and nightmares myth originated. It has been linked to Charles Dickens' character Scrooge who blamed "a crumb of cheese" for his night-time visitations in A Christmas Carol.

The myth has also been associated with a 1950s health scare when cheese was found to be problematic for people using a particular antidepressant.

When it came to dream type, it seemed that Stilton caused odd dreams, with 75 per cent of men and 85 per cent of women experiencing bizarre and vivid dreams.