As August and its beautiful beaches loom, your extra pounds continue to taunt you. What if you smoked weed to lose weight?
Could the cravings, munchies and other “foncedale” that accompany cannabis use be hiding an unexpected weight-loss side-effect? Yes, according to recent research by Dr. Stephen Glazer, Chief Medical Officer and expert nutritionist at the CannaWay Clinic (Canada).
The keystone of this research: CB1 receptors. Receptors of the endocanabinoid system which play an important role in the assimilation, storage and conservation of energy (calories in this case). When we consume cannabis (whether by ingestion or inhalation), our taste and smell buds are over-activated. Our brain’s appetite center – the hypothalamus – is triggered even when we’re full. We’re talking here about “munchies”, the well-known side effect of ganja-aficionado and chemotherapy patients prescribed therapeutic cannabis. For the moment, there’s nothing new under the sun, as cannabic cravings or “foncedales” are as old as the discovery of the beautiful plant.
Cannabis, an “anti-bulimia vaccine”?
As incongruous as the idea may seem, consuming a plant that helps you regain your appetite would also enable you to lose weight, via a phenomenon of habituation or “vaccination” of the hyperorexic responses (which give the impression of hunger even when satiated) generated by the CB1 sensors.
These are the conclusions of Dr. Glazer, who tells us that regular exogenous activation of CB1 sensors (by consuming weed) produces an addictive phenomenon known as “down-regulation”. In plain English: consuming cannabis regularly will regulate your appetite. “This is an exciting development, specifically related to long-lasting CB1 down-regulation, which can suppress appetite while increasing calories burned,” continues the scientist
The happy culprit behind this paradox is THCV, a well-known cannabinoid particularly present in cannabis sativa strains such as Durban Poison, Pineapple Purps and Jack the Ripperm, which blocks THC’s “munchies” effect on CB1 receptors, suppressing that classic “joint hunger”. “Isolated THCV plays a role in reducing the incidence of obesity.”
THCV: the ultimate cannabinoid cutter
Blocking CB1 receptors to suppress appetite is a mechanism that the pharmaceutical industry has already turned its attention to; one drug, Rimonabant, has already shown great promise in the laboratory. Another much better-known cannabinoid also features in Dr. Glazer’s work on weight regulation: CBD.
Cannabiniole, an alkaloid that has been on the rise in recent years, could also be responsible for giving our waistlines a healthy glow, since the same study showed that CBD increased the level of “brown adipose tissue”, a special type of fat that helps eliminate “bad fat” – that unsightly layer of the dermis commonly known as cellulite. i.e. that unsightly layer of dermis commonly known as cellulite.
Two highly promising discoveries that will reconcile you with your pastry chef… as long as he makes decent space-cake.
