Food Cravings Associated with Marijuana Use

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 26, 2015 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News | Comments are off for this article

People often crave all sorts of foods and snacks after they have smoked marijuana. Scientists have recently looked into this phenomenon to find out why the brain gets affected in this way. Since marijuana is becoming legal in some states and has started to achieve broader acceptance, it is vital that more research is conducted on the drug and how it reacts with the body and what the long-term effects of using marijuana are.

Researchers from Yale University noticed that when people consumed marijuana an interesting thing occurred in the brain. There are neurons that are responsible for telling the body to stop eating. This prevents people from overeating and maintaining a healthier lifestyle. However, when marijuana enters the body the neurons change their job function. Instead of telling the body to stop eating, they tell the body to continue eating.

“It fools the brain’s central feeding system. We were surprised to find that the neurons we thought were responsible for shutting down eating were suddenly being activated and promoting hunger, even when you are full,” explained Tamas Horvath, the lead author on the study.

While this research may not be groundbreaking, it does highlight that the drug has a significant influence over brain chemistry. Altering the job of neurons is a powerful task, and marijuana seems to do it with ease. Many in the science community are calling for more research on the drug to understand all the implications of its use.