Active ingredient in marijuana may prevent Alzheimer's Disease My friend Phylis keeps me up to date with humorous items she finds here and there. I laughed out loud at this one - a statement from Willie Nelson regarding his recent run-in with the law when marijuana was discovered on his tour bus.
Willie: "It's a good thing I had a bag of marijuana. If it had been a bag of spinach, I'd be dead by now."
A recent laboratory study conducted by researchers at the Scripps Research Institute found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the active chemical in marijuana) might block formation of the enzyme that leads to amyloid plaque buildup in the brain. Amyloid plaque aggregation is the primary cause of Alzheimer's disease.
Scripps researchers also found that THC impaired plaque formation better than two Alzheimer's drugs: Aricept and Cognex.
Much more testing will be needed to confirm these results. And, of course, there's the added element that marijuana is a controlled substance, as Willie was recently reminded. Source: "Marijuana May Prevent Alzheimer's" Ivanhoe Newswire, 10/11/06, ivanhoe.com |
