A study from 2012 shows that cannabinoids improve the efficiency of mitochondria and remove damaged brain cells.

What exactly are mitochondria?

Mitochondria are specialized organelles unique to the cells of animals, plants, and fungi. They serve as batteries, powering various functions of the cell and the organism as a whole generating most of the cell’s supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used as a source of chemical energy.

Mitochondria have their own DNA, ribosomes and can make their own proteins.

What role does Mitochondria play in the health of our brain cells?

Mitochondria supplies energy, supports cellular activity, and potentially wards off threats from disease.

They also coordinate apoptosis, or programmed cell death — an important process that ensures the death of malfunctioning cells that might otherwise turn into cancer

Your brain, being the most energy-dependent organ, is particularly susceptible to impaired energy production due to faulty mitochondria, and researchers now suggest this is what makes the human brain susceptible to age-related diseases in the first place

In older individuals, mitochondrial genes related to energy generation become progressively less active and tend to be less dense and more fragmented, this, in turn, generates much lower amounts of energy

What does the study reveal?

The study was conducted by Andras Biokei-Gorzo at the Institute of Molecular Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany is suggesting that Cannabis (or the activation of the brain’s cannabinoid system) triggers the release of antioxidants, which act as a cleansing mechanism.

This process is known to remove damaged cells and improve the efficiency of mitochondria. Mitochondria is the energy source that powers cells. The study was published in Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society.

These discoveries shed new insight into how natural cannabinoids possess the capacity to eliminate the brain inflammation responsible for causing cognitive decline, neural failure, and brain degeneration.

By providing the CB receptors with cannabinoids, patients may be able to overcome brain conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and more.

Diseases that affect our elderly.

Cannabinoid system activity is neuroprotective, and increasing it could be a promising strategy for slowing down the progression of brain aging and for alleviating the systems of neurodegenerative disorders.” Andras Biokei-Gorzo / Institute of Molecular Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany

Gery Wenk, a professor of neuroscience, immunology and medical genetics at Ohio State University conducted some of the research that came out of the study from Germany.

I’ve been trying to find a drug that will reduce brain inflammation and restore cognitive function in rats for over 25 years; cannabinoids are the first and only class of drugs that have ever been effective. I think that the perception about this drug is changing and in the future people will be less fearful. Gerry Wenk, Professor of neuroscience, immunology and medical genetics at Ohio State University

Since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, the doors were open for further research to be done. The amount of studies that show the potential benefits of Cannabis is excellent and the likely harmful effects are in the rare if any at all.

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