No one likes getting older and the fact that its inevitable is not quite comforting for most. This fear and dread has lead to an industry solely devoted to developing drugs and other products that can reduce signs of aging. And while many of these do little other than make people feel better about potentially slowing the aging process, it remains an important part of the pharmaceutical and beauty business.
But other than the cosmetic aspects, many people are also interested in keeping themselves sharp with age and, of course, staving off dementia. So what about natural therapeutics like cannabis? By now, you may feel like cannabis is being touted as a miracle “cure all” for every ailment imaginable. But, again, we turn to the research to fact check these claims and see if there’s anything that holds true about cannabis and aging.
A pre-clinical study published in Nature Medicine last spring reported that a low dose of THC administered to 12- and 18-month old mice significantly slowed cognitive decline. Ok, that sounds great – but how do you study cognition in mice and why are 18-month-old mice considered old?
The second question is easier to answer – mice don’t live very long, so 18 months is considered equivalent to elderly age in humans. As for the first question, there are several different ways to study cognition and memory in mice. In this study, they tested the ability to remember a familiar versus a new mouse; this is also called social recognition. Several other methods can be used to test memory and cognition in mice, some involving social cues and others involving the memory for objects, place, or time.
So, how is social recognition a correlate for cognition in humans? Honestly – it’s not, really. But it does represent one facet of memory that should be more thoroughly evaluated with additional study.
In addition to the behavioral findings, the researchers also saw physical changes in the brain of mice that consumed THC. And these changes made the brain look more like a younger mouse’s brain.
While these results are very encouraging, I wouldn’t necessary up your intake of cannabis on a quest to turn back time just yet based on a study in mice. But, positive findings from pre-clinical studies help push the clinical trial process along – and that’s exactly what’s happening.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, are conducting a human trial in elderly adults to see if this anti-aging effect holds true. And, with a greater number of states legalizing cannabis, we may soon have a larger dataset from older people using cannabis that we may pull from to explore this link in a prospective manner.
Watch the video watch to learn more about this study and how cannabis consumption may help prevent some of the signs and symptoms of aging: