Tag Archives: Ingredient
MMJ Ingredient Prevents Brain Damage in Mice
The words “marijuana” and “brain damage” usually go in that order in medical literature. An Israeli researchers has flipped them around, finding that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, may arrest some forms of brain damage in mice. The loco weed already is favored by those who suffer from chronic diseases, not to mention fans of Cypress Hill, Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead.
But pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University found that a minuscule amount of tetrahydrocannabinol may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, toxic drug exposure or a lack of oxygen.
The amounts wouldn’t qualify as much more than a second-hand whiff of kine bud – the quantity of THC is an order of 1,000 to 10,000 lower than that in a whole spliff.
The new dope on marijuana was published in Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, which are professional journals, not nicknames for HempCon or Burning Man.
Other researchers didn’t tend to Bogart the joint as much. They suggested using high — their word — doses within about half an hour after such injury. Sarne would spread a smaller dose over as much as a week.
The chemical is thought to jump-start biochemical processes that protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function.
Researchers injected mice with a low dose of THC either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. Fellow rodents in a control group got their brains bonked without the dose.
About a month or two later, the mice that got the THC treatment performed better in behavioral tests measuring learning and memory and showed they had greater amounts of neuroprotective chemicals than the control-group mice.
Oddly, it may be brain damage on a small scale that causes the brain to shift into protective mode. Researchers theorize the THC causes minute damage to the brain that helps build resistance and triggers protective measures in the face of more severe injury.
The low dose and long window for administering it would have obvious benefits after an injury, but it also could mean that THC can be given prior to a procedure that may carry risk of brain injury, including interruption of blood flow to the brain during surgery. Sarne believes it also could be safe for regular use among epileptics.
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Geoffrey Mohan
Published: May 31, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Cannabis News – Medical Marijuana, Hemp, Marijuana News, Cannabis
Cocktail Ingredient: Marijuana — Noticed
Mixed drinks with marijuana as an ingredient are illegal, but that apparently doesn’t stop their fans.
NYT > Marijuana and Medical Marijuana
Sunscreen Ingredient Linked to Endometriosis
Study Ties a Common Ingredient in Sunscreens, Nail Polishes, and Lotions to Endometriosis
WebMD Health News
May 11, 2012 — Certain chemicals that are widely used in sunscreens and other products because they protect against UV light are associated with an increased risk of developing the gynecological condition endometriosis, a new study shows.
But the Personal Care Products Council, a group that represents cosmetics manufacturers, called the study “weak” and “unconvincing” and said it shouldn’t scare people away from safe sun practices, including sunscreen use.
Sunscreen Ingredient May Mimic Estrogen
The study, which is published in Environmental Science & Technology, measured concentrations of five kinds of chemicals called benzophenones in the urine of more than 600 women who were evaluated for endometriosis.
Benzophenones are used in a variety of products because they protect against UV light. In small amounts, that helps to stabilize the formulations of products that are stored in clear containers, like nail polish. At higher concentrations, and when they are applied to the skin, they are powerful sunscreens.
Endometriosis is a painful condition that occurs when tissue from the inside of the uterus grows outside of the uterus. When this tissue grows in other parts of the body, typically spilling into the abdomen around the ovaries or fallopian tubes, it behaves as if it were still in the uterus, thickening and shedding each month in sync with a woman’s menstrual cycle. Endometriosis can lead to scarring and infertility.
Studies estimate that about 1 in 10 women have the condition, and some research suggests that it is becoming more common.
Benzophenones are easily absorbed through the skin. Studies by the CDC have found benzophenones in the urine of 97% of people tested.
Scientists are concerned about benzophenones because the body may mistake them for hormones.
“These compounds are estrogenic. They mimic estrogen in the body,” says researcher Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, a professor of public health and environmental health sciences with the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany.
Kannan says benzophenone-3, which appears on sunscreen labels as oxybenzone, is even more strongly estrogenic than bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in certain plastics that’s recently been the subject of regulatory scrutiny.
The cause of endometriosis is not known, but the condition is fed by the female hormone estrogen. Treatment sometimes involves taking medications that lower estrogen levels.
Study Ties Benzophenones to Endometriosis
Overall, the study found that only one kind of benzophenone, a chemical known as benzophenone-1, was significantly associated with the risk that a woman would have endometriosis.
Women with the highest amounts of benzophenone-1 in their urine had a 65% greater chance of having endometriosis compared to women with the lowest levels.
Benzophenone-1 is a chemical additive that’s mostly used in nail polishes, according to the cosmetics industry web site CosmeticsInfo.org, but it also forms when the body breaks down oxybenzone, the major ingredient in sunscreen.
