26 MEDICAL CANNABIS
In the 1960s researchers found that drugs such as morphine, opium and heroin had powerful effects on the human body that were derived from plants. They suspected this reaction came from the drugs binding themselves to certain receptors. Their theory was that if this reaction existed, the body itself produced similar chemicals that acted on these same receptors.
Then in 1975, enkephalin molecules were discovered and found to have similar pain extinguishing properties to opioids. Enkephalin being a pentapeptide involved in regulating nociception in the body. The enkephalins are also known as endogenous ligands, as they are produced in the body, and not introduced into the body, such as certain drugs.
This prompted other researchers to explore further into receptors affected by other drugs, and in the late 1980’s those receptors on which tetrahydrocannabinol acted on were
discovered. And it was in the early 1990’s in where the man known as the as “the father of cannabinoid medicine,” Professor Raphael Mechoulam discovered that the anandamide endocannabinoid was naturally produced in the brain and synthesized in areas that are important to memory, motivation, higher thought processes, movement control, and playing an important role in pain perception, appetite, fertility and known as the “bliss molecule.”
Italian researchers found that black truffles create the same “bliss molecule,” as cacao and cannabis. And as previously mentioned, anandamide is an endocannabinoid naturally produced by the body that regulates pain perception, appetite, and fertility, to name a few, through the process of binding to cannabinoid receptors.
Black Truffle, or Tuber melanosporum, a.k.a Périgord truffle or French black truffle,
is a species of truffle native to Southern Europe. It is one of the most expensive, edible mushrooms in the world.
Black Truffle /blak ˈtrə-fəl/
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MEDICAL