14 DAY TRIAL // The majority of people find themselves experiencing a sudden and uncontrollable desire to eat pretty much everything in sight after smoking marijuana.
In a study published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature, Yale University specialist Tamas Horvath and fellow researchers explain how and why marijuana has this effect on guys and gals alike.
Specifically, the scientists detail how smoking this drug affects the human brain and triggers the uncontrollable increase in appetite that marijuana users like to call the munchies.
How marijuana toys with a person's brain
In the report detailing their work, study lead author Tamas Horvath and his colleagues explain that, as part of their investigation into how marijuana influences appetite, they performed several experiments on laboratory mice.
They found that this drug fosters an increase in appetite by hijacking the brain and compelling neurons that usually suppress an individual's desire for food to switch to being a driver of eating instead.
As explained by Tamas Horvath, this is kind of like driving a faulty car that accelerates instead of slowing down when you hit the brakes. Interestingly enough, it looks like marijuana can trigger hunger even if one is already full.
Thus, under the effect of this drug, the brain fails to properly process signals telling it that the stomach it is supposed to look after is full and does not need any more food. Meanwhile, neurons that usually suppress appetite become eating drivers.
Yale University specialist Tamas Horvath and colleagues argue that these changes in the brain's normal working agenda are the reason the majority of people eat copious amounts of food after smoking marijuana.
“The neurons we thought were responsible for shutting down eating, were suddenly being activated and promoting hunger, even when you are full. It fools the brain’s central feeding system,” researcher Tamas Horvath said in a statement.
This find could benefit cancer patients
People diagnosed with cancer often experience loss of appetite. Now that they know more about how marijuana affects the brain, the Yale University researchers hope to use this knowledge to help patients undergoing treatment for this medical condition.
Thus, the scientists wish to figure out a way to replicate the effect that marijuana has on the brain, but only as far as appetite goes. However, they admit that there is plenty of work left to do until their findings are translated into treatments for loss of appetite linked to cancer.