High on Your Gut
After ingesting marijuana, how does this affect the speed of digestion and absorption?
It slows digestion. Cannabis slows gastric emptying, causing food to remain in the stomach rather than move into the small intestine, causing a sense of overwhelming fullness and discomfort.
This effect of cannabinoids slows the movement of food through the intestines by reducing peristalsis and smooth muscle contractions.
What is decreased intestinal motility (or slowed gut transit)?
This well-known effect of cannabis increases hunger by stimulating appetite, often leading users to crave high-calorie foods.
What are “the munchies”?
What is the most common underlying mechanism of GERD?
Transient Lower esophageal sphincter relaxation.
Marijauna relaxing the muscles throughout the body relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, leading to GERD.
Cannabinoids primarily interact with the GI tract through which system?
A. Endocrine system
B. Endocannabinoid system
C. Respiratory system
What is the Endocannabinoid system?
Cannabis relaxes the body and its muscles. Relaxation of the esophagus and esophageal sphincter leads to?
Acid Reflux.
Relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter muscle increases the chance for stomach contents and acid to move upwards back into the esophagus.
This receptor system, found in the gut’s enteric nervous system, regulates bowel movement and is directly affected by cannabis use.
What is the endocannabinoid system (ECS)?
This primary psychoactive compound in cannabis triggers increased appetite by acting on brain receptors that regulate hunger.
What is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)?
This receptor, highly expressed in the GI tract, is the primary cannabinoid receptor involved in regulating esophageal tone and reflux.
CB1( cannabinoid receptor 1)
What is the general effect of cannabinoids on gastrointestinal motility (movement of the gut)?
What is slowed motility?
Motility is the speed at which peristalsis (one-way movement through the GI tract) occurs.
Cannabis relaxes the body's muscles. After eating too many SWEET foods, the body produces insulin. Cannabis can lead to inflammation of this organ, known as?
The pancreas and pancreatitis. Cannabis reacts with pancreatic tissues, releasing too many enzymes (lipase, amylase, and ribonuclease), leading to inflammation and pancreatitis.
By activating CB1 receptors, cannabis reduces the release of this neurotransmitter, which normally stimulates intestinal contractions.
What is acetylcholine?
Cannabis use can alter this metabolic hormone, which is responsible for signaling hunger to the brain.
What is ghrelin?
Chronic cannabis use may contribute to nausea and vomiting by this effect on the stomach, which slows digestion and delays gastric emptying.
What is impaired gastric motility?
Name one way cannabinoids can positively affect the gastrointestinal system.
What is reduce inflammation, stimulate appetite, create healthier microbiomes?
A human's cannabis sensors are primarily found in this system, making the effects be sent throughout and impact all parts of the body.
Central Nervous System.
Marijuana affects the digestive system primarily through the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which includes CB1 receptors in the brain and enteric nervous system and CB2 receptors in immune cells.
This digestive effect of cannabis can delay how quickly the stomach empties and how fast contents move through the intestines
What is delayed gastric emptying (or slowed gastrointestinal transit)?
Despite increasing appetite, some studies suggest cannabis users may have lower levels of this measure of body fat relative to height.
What is body mass index (BMI)?
Cannabis is thought to trigger acute pancreatitis by interacting with these receptors in pancreatic tissue, leading to enzyme release.
A) CB1
B) CB2
C) Both
Answer C. Both cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 are triggered.
Cannabinoids can affect which of the following GI functions related to how the body senses pain?
A. Vision processing
B. Visceral sensation
C. Bone density
What is Visceral sensation?
This condition, caused by chronic cannabis use, leads to severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, and is often temporarily relieved by hot baths but ultimately requires stopping cannabis use to resolve.
What is Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS)?
Chronic cannabis use may contribute to this bowel-related issue due to slowed intestinal motility, leading to infrequent or difficult bowel movements.
What is constipation?
Cannabis can influence this process, which determines how the body converts food into energy and stores fat.
What is metabolism?
This proposed mechanism suggests cannabis may cause pancreatitis by relaxing this muscular valve that controls flow from the pancreas into the small intestine.
A.) Cardiac Sphincter
B.) Sphincter of Oddi
C.) pyloric sphincter.
What is the Sphincter of Oddi?
Which receptor type is especially important for immune and inflammatory effects in the GI tract?
A. CB1
B. CB2
C. Dopamine receptors
What is CB2?