AZ medical marijuana appetite

For many medical marijuana (medical cannabis) patients, the appetite-stimulating effects of the medicine allow them to consume food when their diseases cause their appetites to drastically change. But why does this happen?

According to The Washington Post, “Researchers from Yale University believe they have deciphered the neurological mechanism that causes the ‘munchies’, that inexplicable urge to eat that has led generations of marijuana users to consume untold numbers of nachos, Twinkies, and Doritos.”

Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that the appetite-stimulating effects of marijuana are driven by the same neurons in the brain which usually suppress the appetite, the exact opposite of what most researchers thought prior to Horvath’s study. A 2005 study by Cell Press showed that the neurons are more excitable after THC is introduced into the system, which could be why THC stimulates appetite. The study concluded that marijuana also inhibited leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone.

The new Yale study has revealed that THC prohibits the neurons in the brain which restrict appetite by restriction. Contrary to what scientists believed prior, the reason that patient’s appetites are stimulated while medicated is that when a patient medicates, the neurons slow down and sometimes even stop transmitting signals that the patient is full.

In the study, published in Science Daily, Horvath said, “By observing how the appetite center of the brain responds to marijuana, we were able to see what drives the hunger brought about by cannabis and how that same mechanism that normally turns off feeding becomes a driver of eating,”

With this new information about cannabinoids and appetite, scientists now not only have an understanding of one way MMJ affects the brain, but also have a new resource to fight against appetite disorders, obesity, and other neurological disorders affecting the way humans eat.

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