(OrganicJar) The active ingredient THC in marijuana appears to reduce tumor growth, according to research from the University in Madrid. The researchers showed giving THC to mice with cancer decreased tumor growth and killed cells off in a process called autophagy.

“Our findings support that safe, therapeutically efficacious doses of THC may be reached in cancer patients,” Guillermo Velasco of Complutense University in Madrid and colleagues reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Other research has shown benefits, such as staving off Alzheimer’s, and many doctors view THC as a valuable way to treat weight loss associated with AIDS, and nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy in cancer patients.

Velasco and his team’s study included an analysis of two tumors from two people with highly aggressive brain cancer. Both patients experienced a decrease in tumor size after receiving THC.

The researchers said the findings could pave the way for cannabinoid-based drugs to treat cancer, although that approach has so proved unsuccessful when it comes to obesity.

Source: reuters.com