Cannabis relieves symptoms in Crohn's disease
Treatment with cannabis can relieve symptoms and improve quality of life in individuals with Crohn's disease even though it has no impact on gut inflammation, according to new research presented at a conference recently.
The study is the first to show, contrary to medical opinion, that the beneficial effect of cannabis on Crohn's disease is not the result of alleviating the gut inflammation that characterizes the condition.
"We know," says study leader Dr. Timna Naftali, who is a gastroenterology specialist at Tel Aviv University's Meir Hospital and Kupat Holim Clinic in Israel, "that cannabinoids can have profound anti-inflammatory effects, but this study indicates that the improvement in symptoms may not be related to these anti-inflammatory properties."
Dr. Naftali recently presented the study findings at the United European Gastroenterology annual meeting (UEG Week 2018), held in Vienna, Austria.
Crohn's disease and symptoms
Crohn's disease is a severe type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a long-term condition that affects around 1.6 million people in the United States.
In IBD, the immune system attacks tissue in the gastrointestinal tract, or gut, causing inflammation.
In the case of Crohn's disease, the inflammation can occur in any part of the gut between the mouth and the anus.
The symptoms vary from person to person and can have a significant impact on quality of life. They include but are not limited to constant diarrhea, bleeding, constipation, pain and cramps in the abdomen, feeling an urgent need to go to the bathroom, and a sensation that the bowels have not emptied properly.
Other symptoms of IBD, such as fatigue, appetite loss, weight loss, fever, and sweating at night, can accompany these.
Another major type of IBD is ulcerative colitis, which mainly affects the colon or large intestine.
