Cannabinoids, Endocannabinoid system, Uncategorized

The Endocannabinoid System and the role it plays in the body

The endogenous Endocannabinoid System is a molecular structure that regulates and balances various processes of the human body. It actively maintains a stable internal environment to ensure the human body is healthily balanced and functioning optimally.

Some of the processes and systems it oversees includes immune response, cell communication, memory, metabolism, endocrine, cardiovascular, and reproduction.

The endocannabinoid system is composed of endocannabinoids which are neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors and cannabinoid receptor proteins found throughout the body. In the tissue, whether it is the brain, organs, glands or immune cells, the endocannabinoid system performs different tasks. The goal is always the same: to actively maintain a stable internal environment. This is otherwise known as homeostasis.

This system is named after the plant that led to its discovery; cannabis. While there are two types of cannabinoids naturally produced in the human body, the CBD, CBN and THC cannabinoids found in cannabis have an affinity for our cannabinoid receptors.

With modern day living, our external and internal environments have become overrun with chemicals and pollutants, overwhelming the endocannabinoid system and its ability to keep our bodies healthy and protected from toxins. This is known as Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency (ECD). When our bodies are out of balance in this way, we develop debilitating conditions, ailments and diseases.

If our endocannabinoid systems become depleted in this way, we can benefit from supplementing to support and improve functioning. Because the cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant interact with the human body and trigger beneficial effects, science has shown that cannabis may be used as a supplement to help the endocannabinoid system establish homeostasis.

There are four key processes of homeostasis, activated through the endocannabinoid system, that the cannabinoids in cannabis assist the human body with:

Apoptosis
Apoptosis is the process by which healthy and regulated cell death occurs. This programmed cell death is important for maintaining homeostasis in the body. Defective apoptotic processes have been implicated in a wide variety of diseases such as Parkinson’s, immunodeficiency, Cancer and Alzheimer’s to mention a few. Cannabis cannabinoids assist in re-establishing balance in apoptosis by, for example, inducing cancer cell death, and promoting the brain’s intrinsic repair mechanism in Alzheimer’s disease.

Anti-metastatic
Metastasis is the spread of a disease-producing activity, such as cancer cells, from the initial or primary site of a disease to another part of the body. Anti-metastatic activity inhibits this type of disease spreading. Scientists have found that cannabis is powerful enough to not only decrease metastasis, but in some cases even stop it altogether. Cannabis has been shown to be effective in this way in many kinds of aggressive cancers such as brain, prostrate and breast cancer.

Anti-proliferative
Proliferation is the abnormal growth of tissue cells in many diseases. This process is pertinent to cancer cells. which are considered to be extremely prolific due to having high rates of cell division and growth. An anti-proliferative relates to a substance used to prevent or alter the spread of cells, particularly malignant cells, into surrounding tissues. Cannabinoids are an anti-proliferative as they are able to limit the cellular growth of cancer.

Angiogenesis
Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels. This process involves the migration and growth of cells that line the inside wall of blood vessels. Angiogenesis-inhibiting agents, such as the cannabinoids in cannabis, have the potential to inhibit tumour growth and limit metastasis, thereby keeping a range of cancers in a static growth state for prolonged periods of time. Cannabis may reduce new blood vessels needed by tumours to grow and metastasise. In essence, cannabinoids may assist in preventing the growth of cancer cells by cutting off essential blood supply.

In conclusion…

It has long been accepted that cannabis has many medicinal effects. Understanding the particular processes and its uncanny compatibility with endogenous systems within the human body only further support cannabis as an incredible supplement for our health and wellbeing.

To find out more about the individual cannabinoids read here..

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