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Adults with a history of cannabis use exhibit greater protections against subconcussive head trauma as compared to non-users, according to data published in the journal Cell.
A team of investigators affiliated with Indiana University assessed the relationship between cannabis use and subconcussive head impacts (soccer headings) in a cohort of 43 soccer players.
They reported that cannabis consumers showed lesser degrees of impairment following laboratory-induced, low-level head trauma than did those with no history of use.
Authors concluded: “This current study has rigorously isolated subconcussive effects and assessed for the potential interaction effects between cannabis use and head impacts on the brain. Our data show that chronic cannabis use may be associated with an enhancement of oculomotor functional resiliency and suppression of the neuroinflammatory response following soccer heading.”
Research has previously suggested that cannabinoids possess the ability to modulate the progress of various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease.
Full text of the study, “The modulatory role of cannabis in subconcussive neural injury,” appears in Cell. Additional information on cannabinoids and neurodegenerative diseases is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
