If you have tried cannabis before, you probably know about two common cannabis side effects: dry mouth and stimulation of your appetite. Especially, it’s common that most people crave for sweets after smoking or vaping cannabis. But, why do we get thirty and hungry after smoking or vaping weed? Does it have any positive medical applications? Is CBD appetite stimulant or is it cause by THC?

Let’s see why and how cannabis could be used to treat certain appetite loss disorders and chronic illnesses that cause to weight loss.

What’s Cannabis?

Cannabis is a plant that contains more than hundred cannabinoids. Both CBD and THC are two common cannabinoids found in cannabis. Moreover, both CBD and THC are used for medical purposes, specially in the treat pain, anxiety and certain types of epilepsy.

In addition, cannabis is well-known because it stimulates appetite. Consequently, the scientific community is experimenting with cannabis in order to use it in patients with eating or appetite disorders.

Cannabis and Appetite

The scientific community didn’t know exactly why cannabis triggers appetite. However, some theories claim that we crave for sweets after cannabis intake because we consume more glucose when cannabis enters our system.

But, do cannabinoids contribute to appetite stimulation? Actually, appetite stimulation is mainly caused by THC. However, CBD may help as well but in another way. For example, CBD reduces anxiety and one common side effect of anxiety is loss of appetite…Hence, CBD users tend to recover appetite because they have less anxiety issues after a prolonged CBD use.

According to recent studies, THC causes an increase appetite because somehow it “tricks” the brain into thinking that we are starving.

This recent research has found that the same neurons that are responsible for shutting down eating, are the same ones that get stimulated by THC to “promote” hunger. THC act directly in the hypothalamus and the neurons start producing chemicals that tell the hypothalamus that we are hungry!

Is CBD appetite stimulant?

This is something that many potential CBD users want to know. The short answer is “no”, CBD isn’t appetite stimulant. In other words, you can safely use CBD without worrying that you would constantly crave for food.

Potential Uses of THC

There are potential uses of THC to treat excessive weight loss and loss of appetite in patients with serious health conditions. For example, HIV patients tend to lose weight and appetite and THC could be used to stimulate appetite in those patients.

Even right after a large dinner, THC will stimulate neurons in your brain to produce chemicals that would make you feel hunger. Obviously, this isn’t good if you are in good shape or normal health conditions. However, cannabis has great potential health benefits for those patients that suffer of extreme weight loss or appetite loss.

In addition, if you just care about cannabinoids to treat anxiety or stress, then you can vape CBD as it isn’t an appetite stimulant. In other words, CBD is to treat anxiety issues, but it doesn’t cause the same chemical reactions as THC.