#72 Notable Clinical Interest
Emerging findings or policy developments worth monitoring closely.
Scientists have now proven that cannabis-triggered appetite is a real brain response that could be harnessed to help patients with HIV/AIDS and cancer who struggle to eat enough to maintain their health.
A Washington State University and University of Calgary study published in PNAS confirmed that cannabis-induced appetite stimulation is a real, brain-mediated phenomenon that occurs universally regardless of sex, age, BMI, or recent food intake. In a randomized clinical trial of 82 volunteers, participants who vaped cannabis ate significantly more food within 30 minutes than the placebo group. Parallel rat studies demonstrated that the effect is driven by central CB1 receptor activation in the hypothalamus rather than peripheral gut signaling, providing a mechanistic roadmap for developing targeted appetite therapies for patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer cachexia, and chemotherapy-induced anorexia.
“The mechanistic clarity of this study,proving appetite stimulation is centrally brain-mediated,is exactly what we need to develop targeted therapies for wasting syndromes without requiring patients to get high.”
A new randomized clinical trial from WSU and University of Calgary, published in PNAS, provides robust evidence that cannabis-induced appetite stimulation is a reproducible, neurobiologically-mediated effect. The findings suggest therapeutic potential for patients with appetite dysregulation across diverse demographics.
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