Cannabis could be used to treat Alzheimer's

It was one of the most promising discoveries in medical cannabis and the results of a recent study confirm it: one of cannabis' compounds could help fight the toxic proteins that cause Alzheimer's disease.

Research has been welcomed as potential evidence for the creation of a therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Scientists at the Salk Institute in California have proved that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabis compounds can suppress a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's disease: beta-amyloid.

Antonio Currais, one of the paper's authors, explains: «Inflammation inside the brain is a major component of the damage caused by Alzheimer's disease, but until now it was thought that this response came from immune-type cells, not the nerve cells themselves.

When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to beta-amyloid, it became clear that the THC-like compounds that nerve cells produce are involved in protecting cells from dying».

David Schubert, another of the study's authors: «Although other studies had already offered evidence that cannabinoids could act as neuroprotectors against Alzheimer's symptoms, our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and beta-amyloid accumulation in nerve cells».

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is a neurodegenerative disease. It affects the brain and can cause memory loss, speech difficulties and affect all cognitive functions.

France is one of the countries with the highest number of Alzheimer's sufferers: 900,000 people have the disease. By 2020, 1 in 4 French people over 65 is expected to be affected by Alzheimer's disease.