"Healthy, man!"
Posted on 08/13/2005 12:00:36 PM PDT by traumer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Derivatives of the active compound in cannabis -- cannabinoids -- may have the potential for treating inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, UK researchers report.
"The system that responds to cannabis in the brain is present and functioning in the lining of the gut," lead researcher Dr. Karen Wright, of the University of Bath, explained to Reuters Health. "There is an increased presence of one component of this system during inflammatory bowel diseases," she explained.
Wright and her colleagues established the location of cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 in human colon tissue, and used human colon cell lines to investigate the binding of cannabinoid compounds and in wound-healing experiments. They report their findings in the journal Gastroenterology
The team found that CB2 was increased in colonic tissue characteristic of inflammatory bowel disease. Cannabinoids enhanced surface wound closure via CB1-related mechanisms.
"Cannabinoids, which we make ourselves, as well as synthetic cannabinoids, can promote wound healing in the gut, which is extremely interesting given that inflammatory bowel disease involves damaged gut linings," Wright said.
Although results are available yet, she added, relevant studies of the use of cannabinoids are taking place in the UK and a clinical trial is being conducted in Germany.
Do you have proof that the research will not bear it out for this application? The article seems to indicate that the research is not yet complete.
Or are you generalizing based on previous, unrelated studies for different applications?
My next door neighbor and his 5 yr old son both have severe
Crohns..
If this stuff were to aid in their suffering I am all for it
inspite of being a fundamentalist Christian
Once upon a time medical doctors swore and oath to 'first do no harm' to their patients this includes denying them pain relief that our asinie war on drugs has precluded them often from being able to do..
Meanwhile illegal alien drug mules who also do farm and food processing are making sure that rural midwestern school kids
are introduced to the wonderful medicinal benefits of Mexican 'Red' Methamphetamine...
Thanks to the OBL...and BayouBush
imo
A mixture of bacteria developed in part by University of Alberta researchers has been proven highly effective in treating people suffering from ulcerative colitis.
The findings, published in the July, 2005 issue of American Journal of Gastroenterology showed that the majority of patients taking a probiotic mixture of 8 bacteria (VSL#3) for 6 weeks improved their ulcerative colitis. Probiotics are preparations of living microbial cells that, when ingested, are thought to positively influence the composition of microbes in the gut and improve the health of the intestine.
While "bad" bacteria have been flagged as potential culprits in the cause of inflammatory diseases of the bowel, in this case, the ingestion of supplemental "good" bacteria (probiotics) to the intestine proved beneficial in treating ulcerative colitis, said Dr. Richard Fedorak, a professor of gastroenterology at the University of Alberta. The joint study included researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of North Carolina.
In this open label clinical trial, 86 per cent of those treated with probiotic bacteria mixture VSL#3 experienced relief of their mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. The mixture of eight lactic acid bacterial species is believed to be effective by mechanisms that include (1) reducing the number of "bad" bacteria, (2) reducing the amount of inflammation (3) increasing the mucus layer in the gut, and (4) increasing the amount of anti-inflammatory molecules in the intestine.
Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that affects the large intestine (colon) and causes acute bloody diarrhea, sever stomach pain, urgency, anemia and fatigue. In its most severe form, ulcerative colitis that does not respond to medical treatment will require surgical removal of the colon.
The VSL#3 was administered over a six-week period to 30 patients who ranged in age from 18 to 65. Remission of the colitis was achieved in 63 per cent of the patients, while another 23 per cent responded with improvement in their symptoms and with healing of the colon's lining. There were no adverse effects to the medication.
The VSL#3 can be considered an important potential treatment for those patients who don't respond to conventional therapy such as mesalamine or 5ASA, Dr. Fedorak said.
###
For more information on this study, contact:
Bev Betkowski Media Relations Officer University of Alberta 780-492-3808 beverly.betkowski@ualberta.ca
They should be allowed to make a fair profit. Is there something wrong with "rich companies?" Why are you bashing them? What's next, a rant against the oil companies for making "too much money?"
"Healthy, man!"
no, no, no, think texture
corn bread!!
Drug warriors are the right wings answer to gun banners. The great H.L. Mencken labeled them "wowsers," that is, people who bear a divine commission to regulate and improve the rest of us. He described them along the lines of "people who cannot sleep at night knowing that somewhere in America, someone is having fun."
Gives a whole new meaning to "Your a** sucks wind," don't it?
There is research and genuine testing going on now regarding the use of pigworm larve in the treatment of IBD. I have a relative that is afflicted and they have been looking into the subject. The early numbers are positive. She is hoping the treatment gets approval. Old story from WebMD:
http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/74/89187.htm?pagenumber=1
Parasitic Worms Ease IBD
May Reduce Overactive Immune Response Behind Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis
Do you have any proof that you won't self-destruct in the next thirty seconds?
You might be surprised at the number of FReepers who are both.
No, not at all. What did surprise me greatly was the number of FReeeprs who are 100% behind the open border policy. That to me is inexplicable.
A Crohn's patient died in trials of a new drug for Crohn's, Tysabri.
An MS patient died in trial of the same drug.
The drug was found to have the potential to cause a devastating neurological disease, PML.
They pump Crohn's patients full of steroids, and MS patients full of interferons, but heaven forbid that a little marijuana might work for these conditions.
I have MS, and what amazes me is that nobody seems too concerned with the "danger" involved in the interferon I "shoot up" every other day.
But let someone suggest that marijuana might help, and everybody starts talking about the side effects or how dangerous it might be, when in comparison to what is already prescribed for these conditions, marijuana has minimal side effects.
yuck yuck yuck...
Sounds like a plot from a Three Stooges episode... Well, a hybrid three stooges and Snoop Doggie Dog...
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