Today the
BBC news website is reporting that scientists at the
National Institutes of Health in the
US, along with colleagues in Japan and Italy, have determined that certain natural
endocannabinoids in the brain stimulate
appetite much as
cannabis does.
The research linked cannabinoid levels to leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and is produced by fatty tissue. When research mice get fatter, leptin levels rise and cannabinoid levels fall, with a concurrent decrease in appetite.
However, there appears to be more than one pathway to appetite control. Mice bred without cannabinoid receptors developed ways of compensating for their missing receptors and regained their appetites. This implies that therapeutic methods of appetite control will require more than one approach.
I must say, it's refreshing to see a news article on a controversial subject that's reported straight up, with a touch of humor, and even a couple of pictures of doobies being rolled and consumed. Go Beeb.