Cannabis Shows Promise In Fight Against Alzheimer's
It is estimated that there are at least 5.4+ million people suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the U.S. right now, and there are many more around the world. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and is known as a degenerative brain disease. This illness is characterized by symptoms such as: decline in memory, language, and other cognitive and problem-solving skills. With this illness, the damage and destruction of neurons eventually will affect other parts of the brain and quite often those in the final stages of this illness will be bed-ridden and require frequent care.
Researchers from the Salk Institute revealed findings in 2016 from their work in this area, asserting that the main psychoactive compound that is found in cannabis –THC- effectively helps in the removal of amyloid beta proteins from lab-grown neurons. When it comes to the progression of this illness, amyloid is the toxic protein that often accumulates in the patient's brain. Researchers have also found that cannabis helps to significantly reduce cellular inflammation in the brain, which is also credited with being an underlying factor in the progression of the illness.
This isn't the first study to look into the effects of THC on Alzheimer's, however this is the first study to determine that there is the double benefit to both inflammation and the amyloid beta proteins in nerve cells. The naturally produced endocannabinoids in our bodies are seen to play a regular role in signaling between cells and they're said to help protect those nerve cells from amyloid damage and inflammation.
Inflammation in the brain is a major worry as far as contributing to the progression of Alzheimer's, and the amyloid protein might build up for years before there is ever any onset of the illness. This research indicates that using cannabis/thc might help to decrease the accumulation of that protein, and the THC-like compounds that our nerve cells make on their own are seen to help in protecting cells from dying.
Their findings are still in the preliminary stages and more research is needed in this area to better understand the benefits that can be had from active compounds that are present in cannabis.
Pics:
pixabay
kalytera.co
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/07/05/marijuana-compounds-show-promise-in-protecting-brain-cells-from-alzheimers/#2b6cca4d75ab
https://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2016-facts-and-figures.pdf
http://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612
https://kalytera.co/cannabinoids/endocannabinoid-system/
Interesting, there are likely going to be a lot of good things to come out of cannabinoids. There are many of them becides the ones that get you high.
Going by all the articles out there, seems like cannabis is the cure all.
Cannabis oil and coconut oil... two natural wonders in the treatment of Alzheimers!
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