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People who smoke or eat cannabis may have experienced a “marijuana munch,” or a desire to eat salty, sweet, fatty, carbohydrate-rich foods, when using marijuana. There may be.
But what exactly are cannabis-related cravings? Why do they occur?
Well, you can also blame the drug's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
THC is responsible for the “high” many people experience when using cannabis. However, it is also the main cause of the increased food cravings that people receive when taking the drug.
The brain is divided into several regions. Some areas control your mood, while others affect your appetite, making you eat or not eat. When we take a drug, it spreads everywhere, so when THC gets into the parts of the brain that affect mood, it stimulates euphoria. Gary Wenk, author of “Brain on Food.'' '' And when THC reaches the areas of the brain that affect appetite, “it stimulates you to eat,” Wenk said.
Although research suggests a variety of mechanisms, cannabis' ability to increase appetite is “well-documented,” said Ginger Hultin, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Research on cannabis has revealed that THC stimulates the endocannabinoid system, a complex area of the brain that regulates eating behavior and energy balance. “It's attacking primitive areas of the brain that control appetite and emotions,” Hultin said.
“THC interacts with receptors in the brain that regulate emotion, pain, and the senses of smell and taste,” says registered dietitian Janice Newell Bissex. “It may also stimulate the release of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger.”
Scientific mechanisms are complex. One animal study shows that by binding to receptors in the brain's olfactory bulb, THC increases our sensitivity to smells, making food smell more potent and making us eat more of it.
Other studies have revealed that neurons that are normally turned off during eating actually stimulate you to eat more when you use marijuana. “Ingesting marijuana can take away neurons that normally control satiety levels,” Wenk says.
THC also increases the release of dopamine, which increases the pleasure of eating, Bissex explained. In addition to making eating more enjoyable, dopamine, a brain chemical that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers, can lower inhibitions, Hultin explained.
“Lowering inhibitions is a big challenge when it comes to cannabis and alcohol,” she says. “People know what to eat, but suddenly their inhibitions drop and they start eating unhealthy foods.”
This effect is even more pronounced among people who carry excess weight. “When an obese person looks at chocolate malt, their dopamine system is activated to a greater extent than in a non-obese person,” Wenk explained. As a result, “these individuals may develop a greater appetite response.”
Hultin, who helps healthy people maintain good eating habits in Washington state, where marijuana is legal, has observed how marijuana increases appetite and affects weight. .
“People will say they use marijuana to relax…but it stimulates their appetite for potato chips and ice cream…and those are unhealthy foods you want to avoid,” she said. She explained that these people can link their weight struggles to marijuana use.
Consuming marijuana in edibles poses unique challenges, as edibles can exacerbate the effects of THC on appetite and weight. For example, sweet foods such as candy, cookies, lollipops, and brownies not only add calories and cause weight gain, but they can also cause blood sugar levels to spike or drop, which can increase appetite, Hultin says. explained.
Research on the effects of cannabis on appetite has gone unnoticed by the pharmaceutical industry.
“There's a very interesting story about a drug called rimonabant,” Wenk said. “Years ago, researchers discovered that if the reason we get hungry is because THC stimulates our food receptors, inducing us to eat carbohydrate-rich foods, why do we take drugs that block those receptors?” I was wondering if it was possible to design one.
Researchers sought to test whether they could manipulate the feeding centers that play a role in determining our appetite.
“They tested the drug…and people lost weight and gave up their interest in cheeseburgers and fries and alcohol and cigarettes,” Wenk said. “They thought, 'This is a great drug!'” People were losing weight and quitting their addictions! ”
However, researchers soon realized that it was not safe to constantly block all of a person's endocannabinoid receptors, which control mood and eating behavior. “People became depressed and started committing suicide,” Wenk said. Clinical trials were halted and the drug was withdrawn from the market.
The results of this study revealed that some endocannabinoid receptors cannot be selectively blocked, but not others.
“The euphoria we experience when we eat delicious food or enjoy the company of loved ones involves the brain's endocannabanoid system saying, 'Thank you.' But if you block the action of this system, you take away your ability to feel constant pleasure,” Wenk said.
For people with diseases that slow their appetite, the increased hunger caused by drugs can be therapeutic. “While some may see this as an undesirable side effect, appetite stimulation is exactly the outcome that many elderly patients and those suffering from cancer or HIV are looking for,” says the father's chronic pain relief. Bissex, who recently became a holistic cannabis practitioner after seeing this, explained: After using marijuana for medical purposes.
“My father tried cannabis when conventional painkillers were barely effective and caused terrible side effects such as constipation and fatigue. We’ve also seen an increase,” she said.
Hultin previously worked as an oncology dietitian and saw first-hand the drug's impact on cancer patients. “I've had patients literally tell me, 'I can't eat without marijuana.'
“When I see a very sick person in front of me and I just want to help them eat, and they say, 'I can't eat without this substance,' I say, 'This is what you need to do.' That might be what we need,'' Hultin said.
Whether you use cannabis or not, the simplest way to summarize the role marijuana plays in appetite control is that it helps the brain ensure our survival, which means we eat. Sho.
“The brain has only two jobs: to help its owner survive and to reproduce,” Wenk said. “It's impossible if you don't eat both.”
If you're concerned about weight gain when using cannabis, Bissex recommends making sure you have access to healthy snacks. “Stocking up on things like popcorn, vegetable sticks with hummus, whole-grain crackers with low-fat dips, and tortilla chips with salsa may fill you up without adding too much sugar or calories.”
Lisa Dreyer is a nutritionist, author, and CNN health and nutrition contributor.
