When you're high, chips, snack cakes, and microwavable pizza rolls are as a good as a five-star meal. But is there any science to support the commonly held belief that marijuana makes food taste better, Are the munchies real, Well, kind of. Although very few studies have been conducted with humans, there is indeed lab research that indicates that food could be more delicious while high. What does smoking marijuana do to your body, In 2014, a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience concluded that THC activated receptors in mice brains that heightened their sense of smell.
This led the critters to eat more. Taste and scent are linked, and an enhanced ability to smell that slice of bacon is thought to make it taste better too. How marijuana affects the human body is complicated, and there's still a lot we don't know. THC in cannabis binds to and activates cannabinoid receptors in cells throughout the body, including the brain, tongue, and gut, according to neuroscientist Nicholas DiPatrizio of the University of California, Riverside. These receptors are involved in regulating things like mood, memory, and pleasure.
DiPatrizio explains that when receptors on our tongue and in our gut are activated, a message is sent to the brain that elicits cravings. Although many processes occur when you get high, it’s our mind that tell us those grocery store cookies taste as good as mom’s. Why does marijuana make you crave junk food, When it comes to an affinity for certain foods, say cake over pie, the brain is responsible for evaluating what we're eating and determining what tastes good and bad, DiPatrizio says.
When you smoke, cannabis activates several regions in the control center, including an area tied to the reward system, which makes munchies extra pleasurable. “The ventral striatum is a very important part in the body that assigns hedonic value to foods,” DiPatrizio says. DiPatrizio’s research has shown that weed could make certain foods more appealing, particularly sweets or fat.
A study he conducted in 2008 revealed that activating the brain’s parabrachial nucleus caused mice to eat more sugary and fatty foods, but not bland items. He believes this occurs because these are the two flavor profiles that are enhanced when THC activates this region. So are the munchies real,
Yes, kind of, but we need more research before we can have a definitive understanding of the effect marijuana can have on one's appetite. That's unlikely to occur as long as the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic, which prevents meaningful research from being conducted. But DiPatrizio certainly doesn’t rule out what stoners already believe to be true. “It’s very possible that cannabis will make you like foods more,” he says.
Cats, don't forget, derive nutrition from eating other animals, and cannot biologically derive the same nutritional benefits from plant based sources as humans do. Blueberries, whole grains, flax seed, kale, dandelion root, and other plant ingredients are perfectly lovely for humans. But we're not obligate carnivores. They may be 'domesticated,' they may sleep indoors on fleece beds, they may wear sparkly rhinestone collars - but none of that has transformed their enzymatic pathways in a way that allows them to derive nutritional benefits from plants.
Cats are carnivores. Period. There is absolutely no need for "life stage" foods. Or for differently formulated foods for different breeds. The emergence of specialty "natural" foods to address the the "needs of different breeds" is a marketing gimmick that makes me giggle. That idea is right up there on the Absurd Scale with "indoor formula" cat foods.
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