Edibles: Tasty or Not Tasty?

Edibles are a popular way to consume cannabis because they can be tasty & easy, but maybe this is a problem? Should meds be made unappealing to children or pets? Although many people enjoy treatment via gummy bears, is this a bad path? The Brilliant Dr Peter Grinspoon’s take: http://bit.ly/2KygQov

The following is an interesting perspective from Julie Beck @ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/07/the-tastiest-medicine/533937/

Some interesting related points to consider:

Taste buds likely evolved to detect foods which have a positive (or negative) effect on the body. It seems logical to assume that good taste would prime good effects. Also, cannabis has an effect similar to hypnotizability and suggestibility. If it tastes good, it’s logical to suggest that good tastes would suggest a higher likelihood of improved effect, from a psychological standpoint too.

A counter-argument: “If it tastes good, people (especially kids) would take it all the time. It actually should taste unpleasant so that you only take it when the alternative is worse.”

1 – Better-tasting medications may enhance pediatric adherence to drug therapy, where that is appropriate. 

2 – Sugars, acids, salt, and other substances may reduce perceived unpleasant taste of cannabis With respect to children, in one study, more than 90% of pediatricians suggested that a drug’s taste and palatability were the biggest barriers to completing treatment. 

3 – The potential for taste stimuli to activate nongustatory sensory systems, including those of a visceroceptive nature in the cases where the taste solutions are swallowed, must be considered, particularly as bitter tastes (likely with cannabis) are governed by GPR protein receptors.

4 – Pleasant tasting products activate a conditioned response:  good taste = good effect (when can then generalized to all pleasant-tasting edibles.

5 – “The unpleasant taste of medicine is often a sensory expression of its pharmacological activity; in many cases, the more potent the drug, the more bitter it will be. The more bitter, the more likely the drug will be rejected. Better-tasting medications may go a long way toward enhancing the ability of pediatric patients to adhere to drug therapy, especially when failure to consume may do harm and, in some cases, be life-threatening.” 

6 – On the other hand, frequent use of sucrose-sweetened medicines has been linked to dental caries 

Benjamin Caplan, MDEdibles: Tasty or Not Tasty?

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