Trick or treat from food endocannabinoids?

@article{Marzo1998TrickOT,
  title={Trick or treat from food endocannabinoids?},
  author={Vincenzo Di Marzo and Nunzio Sepe and Luciano Petrocellis and Alvin Berger and Gayle Crozier and Ester Fride and Raphael Mechoulam},
  journal={Nature},
  year={1998},
  volume={396},
  pages={636-636}
}
The discovery of the endogenous cannabinoid N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide) and other N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) in chocolate has led to speculation that the purported rewarding properties of cocoa are due to the presence of compounds “that could act as cannabinoid mimics”. This observation raises some important questions. First, are NAEs and anandamide, or the ‘endocannabinoid’ 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), present in widely consumed foods (such as milk) that are less ‘rewarding’ than… 
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113 Citations

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It is found that anandamide, a major endocannabinoid, enhances appetite in mice and blocking the endoc cannabinoids with a CB1 antagonist on the 1st day after birth leads to inhibition of suckling.
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The main features of the ECS are summarized in order to put in better focus current knowledge of the nutritional relevance of endocannabinoid signaling and of its role in obesity, cardiovascular pathologies, and gastrointestinal diseases.
Beyond Cannabis: Plants and the Endocannabinoid System.
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Examples of how diseases may be treated by substances capable of selectively manipulating endocannabinoid levels and action are presented, using animal models of neuropathological conditions, to indicate that new therapeutic agents, lacking the undesirable psychotropic side effects of Cannabis, may be developed from current studies on the endOCannabinoid system.
Endocannabinoids and obesity.
Endocannabinoid control of food intake and energy balance
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The multifaceted regulation of energy homeostasis by endocannabinoids is discussed, together with its applications to the treatment of eating disorders and metabolic syndromes.
Endocannabinoids and their actions.
Theobromine and the pharmacology of cocoa.
  • H. J. Smit
  • Psychology
    Handbook of experimental pharmacology
  • 2011
TLDR
Most other substances are unlikely to exude a psychopharmacological effect owing to extremely low concentrations or the inability to reach the blood-brain barrier, whilst chocolate craving and addiction need to be explained by means of a culturally determined ambivalence towards chocolate.
Endocannabinoids in the central nervous system--an overview.
  • E. Fride
  • Biology, Chemistry
    Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids
  • 2002
TLDR
The role of the endocannabinoid system in appetite stimulation in the adult organism, and perhaps more importantly, its critical involvement in milk ingestion and survival of the newborn, may not only further the understanding of the physiology of food intake and growth, but may also find therapeutic applications in wasting disease and infant's "failure to thrive".
Cannabinoids and endocannabinoids in metabolic disorders with focus on diabetes.
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Evidence is emerging that some nonpsychotropic plant cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol, can be employed to retard β-cell damage in type 1 diabetes and the possibility that CB(1) antagonists might be used for the treatment of these metabolic disorders.
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