Marijuana, Alcohol, Smell, and Appetite

By -
On February 19th, Dr. Rachel Herz came into class and gave a riveting lecture on the importance of sense of smell. One interesting point she brought up was that marijuana has shown to increase the sense of smell, while alcohol decreases the sense of smell, with the exception of one glass of wine; this can enhance the sense of smell. Published just a few weeks ago on their website, Nature Neuroscience had posted an article that found marijuana or cannabis, increases appetite, and this is all because of its power to enhance smell. The scientists were able to conclude this because they compared the typical smelling and eating of regular mice to mice that were given THC. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC is the main psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana.  

The scientists found when they offered both groups of mice almond and banana, the mice who did not have THC (control group) sniffed the foods and eventually lost interest, the group given the THC did not lose interest and continued to sniff. When offered food to eat, the mice who were given THC also ate significantly more than the mice without the THC.The researchers then observed another group of mice that had fasted for twenty-four hours, finding that the results ended up quite similar to those seen in the mice given THC. They then created a whole new type of mouse done by genetically engineering them to not have any CB1 receptors in their olfactory bulbs. By doing this the researchers found that giving these mice THC didn't have the same effect, the mice reacted to smells the same as the mice without any THC; they no longer showed an increase in appetite. The conclusion of this study showed that cannabinoid receptors located in the olfactory bulb were triggered by the THC. The THC acts as a replica of the endocannabinoids which are produced when there is hunger. Therefore, enhancing the sense of smell and increasing the appetite of the mice. In conclusion THC enhanced the sense of smell for the mice, which caused an increase in appetite. This can be seen in humans as well, not just mice.


After reading this study it got me thinking, seeing as alcohol is a common piece of religious ceremony and marijuana not so much, these findings intrigued me. As we found so far in this class, scent, even though it is consider one of our lower senses, plays a very big role in religion along with everyday life. So why is it that alcohol seems to be mostly celebrated in most cultures, stunts our sense of smell, but marijuana is typically stigmatized as “bad”, enhances smell?  


http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n3/full/nn.3647.html

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausMarch 1, 2015 at 9:12 PM

    Good connections and good questions, but it's complicated. Alcohol may have the opposite effect to marijuana on olfaction, but it may have other socio-religious benefits. The ancient Greek philospher Plutarch called attention to wine's "friend-making power. Smell may be important to religions, but it isn't the only or most important thing in every religion. On the other hand, in some religions, like Rastifarianism, marijuana has a central sacramental role.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The most primitive sense

By -
Image
Smell the Flowers by Kirsten Star Smell, to me, is the most primitive sense. When most mammals are born, they immediately can recognize their mother’s smell and form an attachment to that smell. Mammals like puppies are almost entirely limited to only the sense of smell until they develop more of their other senses. The sense of smell also becomes the most primitive when considering humans and the phenomenon of perfume. For years, humans hunted certain animals for the purpose of obtaining the musk produced in the anal gland. This musk in small doses can act as an aphrodisiac when put into a perfume even though it has incredibly primitive origins. Though most of Western culture has an aversion to smells considered gross or undesirable, the wealthiest of women are still willing to pay heavy prices to spray a smell once obtained from the anal glands of other animals. The sense of smell is not something that humans can control and adjust but rather it is only changed by evolution over
Read more

Cannibalism and Symbolism

By -
Symbolism plays an important role in religious ceremonies because people cannot have the divine being where they want him all the time. So they start creating ways to be in touch with God. Such as in Christianity, eating bread is symbolized to be eating God-made flesh. There are similar rituals in Judaism where they eat the food of God. A big difference between taste and the other senses is that the object that is being sensed is internalized, whereas all the other senses use an external sensation. Taste cannot extend anywhere like the other senses can. This allows the humans to have no barrier between the divine (symbolized as food) and themselves. This is the closest they can get to God, but internalizing Him.  This thought of getting the closest they can to someone by ingesting and gaining power from it led my mind to wander to the thought of serial killers that also happen to be cannibals. I know that it might be a stretch, but there are some similarities. I als
Read more

Wrap-Up Post

By -
Image
Alright, let’s tie this up in a nice little bow. I genuinely did not know what to expect coming into this class. The extent of my knowledge of the senses comes from elementary school when we had to make it a little song to get the information through our tiny heads. Beyond that, everything seemed pretty cut and dry. We have five senses. We need to use all of them to survive. It’s as simple as that. I did not know how there was enough to talk about the senses to fill an entire college course, especially one specifically regarding the relationship between the senses and religion. But the fact that we were barely able to fit all the content in before the semester ended proves just how wrong I was. Let’s talk about why that is and what some of the things I learned were. First off, even the most basic assumption about the senses, that there are five of them, was questioned immediately. The sixth sense may not have been as clearly defined as the other senses, but there was certainly a lot to
Read more