快猫短视频

If you have ever lit up a joint and craved a snack soon afterwards, you were probably experiencing the 鈥渕unchies鈥�. Stimulating appetite is one of marijuana鈥檚 best-known and most puzzling side effects. But why does weed make you want to chow down?

The psychoactive compound in cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is what gets users high. However, THC also spikes our appetite by tapping into the body鈥檚 endocannabinoid system, a complex cell signalling network that controls everything from emotion and sleep to and hunger.

The science of cannabis

As the use of marijuana and its compounds rises around the world, 快猫短视频 explores the latest research on the medical potential of cannabis, how it is grown and its environmental impact, the way cannabis affects our bodies and minds and what the marijuana of the future will look like.

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鈥淭HC binds to and activates a receptor in the brain and [gut] called CB1R,鈥� says at the University of Michigan. When activated, this receptor , even when people are full. 鈥淭he end result is stimulation of food intake,鈥� Cone says.

But this inclination to eat isn鈥檛 the same as true hunger, says at Purdue University in Indiana. 鈥淲hen people are high on marijuana they will say, 鈥業 know I鈥檓 not hungry, but I still want to eat,'鈥� says Mattes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 eating in the absence of hunger.鈥�

There may be additional reasons why people reach for food after using marijuana, even when they are not hungry. One is that the drug can enhance our perception of the way food tastes and smells. In a study involving mice, , leading them to eat more of it. Another study found that giving cannabis to mice boosted their . However, this wasn鈥檛 true of sour, salty and bitter tastes.

A million years of marijuana: How cannabis became our favourite weed

Cannabis was one of the first crops that humans cultivated about 12,000 years ago. But medicinal and psychoactive uses are much more recent

Despite the link between appetite and marijuana, there is no strong evidence that people who smoke weed regularly have higher body weights than those who abstain. And the munchies can have benefits for those experiencing nausea as a result of treatment for cancer or HIV 鈥� cannabis-induced cravings .

But for cannabis users who want to avoid food cravings, experts recommend reaching for a strain with less THC or reducing the amount they consume.