Hunger Signals From Endogenous Cannabinoids Mapped In The Brain

Cannabis is well-known to influence eating habits. Why and how this works is still not understood

How natural cannabinoids – also known as endocannabinoids – work to stimulate hunger is not well researched or understood.

A new investigation by Masoud Ghamari-Langroudi, a research assistant professor of molecular physiology, biophysics and pharmacology at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery in Nashville, Tennessee may change that.

The research by Professor Ghamari-Langroudi has revealed how endocannabinoids modulate “feeding cells” in the brain to regulate body weight.

The study expands on his previous work regarding MC4 receptors – which are crucial in regulating energy homeostasis – the balance of energy intake and expenditure in the body. MC4 receptors are implicated in a variety of disordered behaviours, including both anorexia and obesity.

To study the same, he used a variety of techniques including behavioural studies, gene expression analysis, hormone assays and electrophysiology to map brain circuits associated with both cannabinoids and eating behaviour.

Got The Munchies?

Beyond the stereotypes about the “Munchies” – the desire to eat after smoking cannabis – not all users get hungry. There is also not much research on why this might be. Cannabis is frequently used by patients to stimulate appetite – particularly if they are AIDS or cannabis patients and suffer from chronic and ongoing pain and nausea.

However, outside of this group, ingesting cannabis is not necessarily associated with hunger stimulation. Chronic pain patients with movement disorders, for example, routinely report that ingesting cannabis does not stimulate an urge to eat. While some studies have suggested that externally ingested cannabis may only cause the urge to eat based on dosage, this is also clearly not the case with long term chronic pain patients who also have higher tolerances for the drug and use more than the average recreational user or even new patients.

Beyond this, there is some evidence that certain strains tend to stimulate hunger more than others. For example, sativas tend to provoke hunger less than indica strains. Indica strains are usually used to control chronic pain and are often used as a sleep aid. This is also the kind of cannabis most associated with “couch-lock” – the term used to describe the relaxed immobility that unfortunately has long been associated with negative stereotypes about cannabis users.

There is also anecdotal evidence that smoked cannabis tends to stimulate appetite more than other forms of ingestion, including edibles and oral ingestion of extracts.

Beyond this, there are also theories that cannabis users can have their appetite increase because their senses are far more attuned to sensations.