Born With The Munchies |
Posted by FoM on July 05, 2000 at 16:32:49 PT Cannabis-like compounds may allow babies to thrive Source: New Scientist Chemicals related to the active ingredient of cannabis might be vital for our survival. Naturally occurring cannabinoids in newborn mice trigger feeding, and without them the animals may die within days, says a biologist in Israel. She believes the chemicals could play a similar role in people. Cannabinoids produced in the body are known to be natural painkillers. They also coordinate the dopamine system, helping to control movement. But smoking cannabis increases appetite, a property that is sometimes exploited to help cancer and AIDS patients. Cannabinoids have also been detected in human and cow's milk, and levels here are at their highest the day after giving birth. Ester Fride of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem thought these observations might be a clue that naturally occurring cannabinoids are important in the early development of newborns. To test this, she injected newborn mice with a chemical that blocks cannabinoids by competing for receptors in the brain. None of the treated pups fed from their mothers. Some died within a week, and those that survived developed more slowly, Fride told the meeting. When Fride and her colleagues treated the pups with the active component of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, in a dose sufficient to swamp the effect of the blocker, the pups fed and grew normally, confirming that the blocker chemical was not itself toxic. "It seems that the pups are completely unable to ingest food without endogenous cannabinoids," she says. Helen Phillips From New Scientist Magazine, July 8, 2000 Scientists May Use Cannabis to Devise New Drugs CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives: Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
Comment #6 posted by Dan B on July 09, 2000 at 02:25:25 PT:
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It could well be that these chemicals are partly responsible for the bonding that takes place between a breastfeeding mother and her baby. (Then again, many of us tend to feel a certain bonding when sucking on breasts even as adults!)
: )
Comment #5 posted by mungojelly on July 07, 2000 at 09:41:49 PT:
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Comment #4 posted by Kanabys on July 06, 2000 at 08:32:38 PT |
Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on July 06, 2000 at 04:41:07 PT:
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Given the insanity of the DrugWar, you can soon expect Barry and Company to outlaw human breasts. They contain cannabinoids, right? Very soon, the DrugWarriors will be calling for mandatory radical masectomies to prevent 'The Chil-drun!' from being 'endangered' by endogenous cannabinoids found in Mother's milk.
As the comedian Don Rickles once observed about Congress, the DrugWarriors "should all be put into a Home, and stop bothering the American people!"
Comment #2 posted by MikeEEEEE on July 05, 2000 at 18:55:59 PT |
Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on July 05, 2000 at 17:16:06 PT:
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It's already known that the linoleic acids found in hempseed oils have superior cholesterol-fighting properties. (Hear that, all you donut scarffing narcs? Your diet is killing you. And all the while, the plant you revile could save your life. But of course, your pig-headed insistance on prosecuting an unwinnable war causes you to ignore the very info that might save your arteriosclerotic ass.) The Israelis are investigating the anti-spasmodic properties of cannabis to fight nerve agant poisoning. And the anti-emetic properties of cannabis are legendary; ask any cancer survivor; that is, those who were able to dodge your cruel insistence that they die for your principles and used it.
So many uses for such a supposedly 'useless' plant. So much good coming from the infamous 'assassin of youth'. And now we learn it plays an extraordinarliy important role at the *moment of our births*.
But the pols and ther narcs just keep digging their heads further into the sand with each new discovery.
It only makes it easier to do to them politicaly what William Bennett wanted to do to us physically; chop their heads off. November is coming, people; is your voting pinkie in good shape?
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