Now smell of the dairy product can make her feel

Katie Weston, 20, from Cardiff, has a phobia of cheese, known as turophobia

A student has revealed she is so terrified of cheese just the smell of it can make her gag.

Katie Weston, 20, has suffered the bizarre fear, known as turophobia, since childhood.

The English literature student, from Cardiff, claims her phobia is so strong, she is left gagging by the smell of the dairy product.

Miss Weston claims if she inadvertently tastes it, she has to run to the toilet to spit it out then brush her teeth.

Her fear has led to flatmates playing pranks on her by hiding cheese around their home or trying to touch her with it, she told student newspaper The Tab.

'Once they even hid ten gratings of cheese in my room while I was at university,' she said.

'I got quite worried because I only found nine pieces for a really long time, until I tried to leave my room and realised it was hidden under the doorknob and I had to touch it.

'I was quite panicked and had to wash my hands right away.'

On another occasion last year her house mates hid cheese sauce in her shower head while another waved a stringy piece of cheese in her face.

She said both experiences had left her feeling anxious.

Miss Weston claims the cheese that triggers her fear the most is parmesan, which has the strongest smell.

She says she is least affected by less potent types like mozzarella.

She said: 'My fear applies to all types of cheese, but if I had to pick the worst one then it would have to be parmesan.

'It has a very strong smell, whilst mozzarella is less potent and easier to cope with. Blocks of cheese are also pretty bad because of their size.

Miss Weston says the stronger smelling cheeses make her feel particularly unwell and she would have to cheese boards to colleagues when working as a waitress

'The sight of hard cheese makes me cringe and the smell alone often causes me to gag.'

When she worked at a restaurant, she would have other staff members make cheese boards because the smell was too strong and she would have to keep washing her hands.

The phobia, like others, is usually triggered by a traumatic childhood memory, which Miss Weston came from the first time she ever ate cheese.

She said: 'When I was six I ate a cheese string, which was the first time I ever tasted cheese.

'I instantly threw up in the bin at my friend's house, where I was when I ate it. It was a traumatic memory.'