In Connecticut, researchers found that hot chili peppers are very similar to marijuana in offering a powerful gut healing biochemical reaction. The chemical that makes peppers spicy hot, capsaicin, binds to a receptor called TRPV1 which produces anandamide. Anandamide is an endogenous cannabinoid, similar to that found in marijuana, but produced by our own bodies. When researchers fed lab mice with chili peppers, the biochemical reaction led to less inflammation in their guts, and even more amazingly, they cured mice who had Type 1 diabetes. Researchers hope to work with Colorado public health officials to see if they are seeing gut healing and improvement of colitis and diabetes in patients since marijuana has been legal in Colorado since 2012.
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