Popular wisdom states that the most common effect of cannabis on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the phenomenon known as the “munchies,” a popular term for the food cravings that strike recreational cannabis users. The munchies are actually triggered in the brain, not the GI tract. But the munchies are about more than encouraging eating; they are a mechanism to encourage the consumption of rich, high-fat foods.70 The body’s endocannabinoids regulate not only all feeding behaviors, including infant suckling, but nearly all gut function. The regulatory functions of the GI tract are tightly linked to the endocannabinoid system. And the actions of the GI tract are primarily controlled by the enteric nervous system, a mesh of 100 million neurons located in the epithelium of the GI tract, which acts on its own to regulate gut function. Both CB1 and CB1 receptors are found on these enteric neurons. While it is suspected that endocannabinoid receptors are also located throughout other parts of the gut, the picture remains incomplete.

What is known is that the endocannabinoid system’s role in GI function is merely a facet of its job in controlling energy balance and metabolism throughout the body. From feeding to insulin production to fat storage, endocannabinoids and their receptors are crucial to how the body acquires energy and uses it.

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