Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. However, science is just now catching up and researching what it can do. Scientists are starting to prove what some people have known for decades – cannabis can help with a variety of issues, including debilitating digestive problems.
Gut Microbiomes
The concept of having “gut microbiomes” may not sound very pleasant, but these microorganisms serve a very important purpose. The human gut has between 10 and 100 trillion microorganisms. These are in place even before we are born, and there are “bad” bacteria as well as “good” bacteria. The bad bacteria can have detrimental effects on health and can cause diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart disease, and cancer. The good microbes help your body synthesize vitamins, use energy from food, and help to strengthen the immune system. It is important that the good bacteria outweighs the bad bacteria, and it turns out that cannabis can help to keep them in proper balance.
As far as your digestive system goes, this means that people with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBSs) such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease may find relief. Over 1 million Americans have these types of diseases, which are basically the body’s own immune system attacking itself in the intestines.
Treatment for IBS can be hit or miss, and it can take a lot of time for a doctor to figure out just the right way to treat a patient. Even when a treatment is chosen, it can have side effects that are just as bad as the disease. There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence through the years that cannabis can help with these painful conditions, and recently research on mice has provided the science to back this up. With a bio x4 coupon available now, it may be time to try cannabis for yourself.
Even if you don’t have a condition as serious as IBS, cannabis can still help. It helps people find relief from severe nausea and vomiting, which is why many chemotherapy patients use it. It can also help to reduce stomach acid, which can cause very painful heartburn and even more serious conditions.
Microbiomes, Cannabis, and the Brain
Microbiomes in the stomach don’t just affect the stomach, however. They also contribute to how the brain functions, in what is known as the “brain-gut axis,” a way for the brain and the gut to communicate with each other. Research has found that these organisms can influence the severity and progression of multiple sclerosis, a disease that begins with inflammation of the brain, which causes tremors and even paralysis. This inflammatory process can be effectively treated by cannabis. It is even thought that gut inflammation can cause other issues, such as depression. It may also affect the way the brain and the gut react to stress and pain.
Cannabis and Weight Loss
Research has also found that THC, a derivative of cannabis, increases one of the bacterial species in the gut that controls how fat is stored and how adipose tissue is metabolized. It helps to ensure that food moves through the intestines in such a way that nutrients have time to be properly absorbed. This could explain why people who smoke cannabis often have a low body mass index and are able to maintain a stable body weight.
What Else Can Cannabis Do?
It seems science is just beginning to discover all the health benefits that cannabis may have, and they may extend beyond just the digestive system and brain. Recently, researchers have started looking to cannabis to help with COVID-19 symptoms such as lung inflammation. Who knows what further research may show?
If you have stomach issues, you may have tried everything you (and your doctor) could think of to find relief. Scientists are frequently discovering new things about how the human body reacts to cannabis, and it may just be the answer for you.
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