Cannabis is a plant that's used in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it's seen as the most harmful thing anyone could touch. Other times, it's perceived as a reservoir of positive effects for both humans and animals. In this regard, cannabis may help with pain, increased appetite, and enhanced sexual desire in patients suffering from ulcerative colitis. At least, that's what this study published in PLOS ONE suggests.
About the study
Indeed, the study is being conducted at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba. In fact, the researchers are working from the premise that:
"Cannabis is often used by patients with ulcerative colitis, but controlled studies are rare. We aimed to evaluate the effect of cannabis on improving clinical and inflammatory outcomes in patients with ulcerative colitis."
For your information, ulcerative colitis refers to a chronic bowel disease that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. In reality, to have a clear and scientific understanding of its symptoms, a medical diagnosis is necessary. However, possible symptoms include, among others: rectal bleeding, bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, pain, loss of appetite, and decreased libido. That being said, this study aimed to determine if cannabis could actually help and to what extent.
Target audience and method
Indeed, as with any study that adheres to scientific principles, this one had target individuals and a methodology. On the one hand, the target individuals were those suffering from ulcerative colitis. To this end, in order to obtain a human profile closely resembling the target subjects, the researchers worked with 32 patients, selected from a pool of approximately one hundred.
A total of 126 patients were screened, of whom 43 did not consent, 39 had inactive disease with a Lichtiger score ≤ 1, 9 patients did not meet the inclusion criteria, and 3 were already receiving medical cannabis treatment. Thus, 32 patients were recruited, and all completed the study. The mean age was 30 years, ranging from 26 to 40 years, and 14 were women (43%). Left-sided colitis was noted in 8 (25%) and extensive or pancolitis in 24 (75%) patients. The mean length of the affected colonic segment was 46 ± 20 cm. Twenty-four (75%) patients had never smoked tobacco, 6 (18%) had smoked in the past, and 2 (6.3%) were still smoking during the study.
The method used, meanwhile, was as follows.
"In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, patients received cigarettes containing 0.5 g of dried cannabis flower with 80 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or placebo cigarettes for 8 weeks. Disease parameters, including Lichtiger's disease activity index, C-reactive protein (CRP), calprotectin, Mayo endoscopic score, and quality of life (QOL), were assessed before, during, and after treatment."
Results obtained and conclusions of the researchers
Indeed, the researchers' findings have confirmed their initial predictions: cannabis could help with ulcerative colitis. The plant appears to have improved patients' quality of life, specifically relieving pain, loss of appetite, and decreased libido associated with the condition. While the following data is admittedly quite technical, we will present it nonetheless.
"The Lichtiger index improved in the cannabis group from 10.9 (IQR 9–14) to 5 (IQR 1–7) (p < 0.000), and in the placebo group from 11 (IQR 9–13) to 8 (IQR 7–10) (p = 0.15, p between groups 0.001). Quality of life improved in the cannabis group from 77 ± 4 to 98 ± 20 (p = 0.000) but not in the placebo group (78 ± 3 at week 0 and 78 ± 17 at week 8; p = 0.459; p between groups 0.007)." The Mayo endoscopic score changed in the cannabis group from 2.13 ± 1 to 1.25 ± 2 (p = 0.015) and in the placebo group from 2.15 ± 1 to 1.69 ± 1 (p = 0.367, p between groups 0.17)
Based on the findings of their study, they were able to draw conclusions. We are transcribing them faithfully for you.
"Short-term treatment with THC-rich cannabis induced clinical remission and improved quality of life in patients with mild to moderately active ulcerative colitis. However, these beneficial clinical effects were not associated with significant anti-inflammatory improvement in the Mayo endoscopic score or laboratory markers of inflammation (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01040910)."
While these findings offer a rather promising perspective, it is nevertheless important that further studies be conducted along the same lines. This could allow for a comparison of results and provide an even clearer understanding of the potential benefits of cannabis for ulcerative colitis in particular, and for symptoms such as pain, loss of appetite, and decreased libido. Furthermore, it could help bring effective and less risky treatments to market for patients. As the researchers themselves state:
"The overall response to currently available treatments is limited to 40–60%, and a secondary loss of response occurs in approximately 50% of patients. Furthermore, current treatment carries numerous long-term risks, including malignant tumors, infections, and decreased bone density."
Co-founder of CBD.fr
Julien Cordobes is the editor of CBD.fr. Born in 1978 in the Paris region, he first trained in e-commerce before turning to natural health approaches, a dual perspective that now structures his way of writing about cannabidiol: reading the scientific literature as it is, without hardening the conclusions, and presenting it in a language that everyone understands.
He discovered CBD at a time when the French market was developing faster than the information available to it. He acquired CBD.fr in 2022 and then took on editorial responsibility for the blog. Since then, he has published numerous articles covering the daily use of CBD, the interpretation of laboratory analyses, the evolution of the legal framework, and precautions for use.
