Decreasing Tyramine in Natural Cheese

It is known that biologically active amines (such as tyramine and histamine) are produced during cheese maturation through the enzymatic decarboxylation of their corresponding amino acids. However ingesting cheese that contains tyramine can result in a "cheese effect" or "cheese reaction" that manifests itself through physiological effects such as hypertension, headaches and nausea. In this study, methods for decreasing tyramine content were applied to both a test tube environment and the actual production of sample cheeses. The parameter variables investigated were salt content, temperature during maturation, and the type lactic bacteria starter.

The addition of salt repressed tyramine production in the test tube environment, but a similar increase in salt content during the production of sample cheeses did not have any effect. Tyramine production was effectively minimized in both the test tube environment and the sample production, however, through temperature controls during cheese maturation and an appropriate selection of lactic acid bacteria starter.