MOSSEL BAY NEWS - A Mossel Bay resident is alarmed after seeing an advert in a KwaZulu-Natal newspaper, claiming "marijuana compound removes toxic Alzheimer's protein from the brain".
In an email to the Mossel Bay Advertiser, he said he was concerned about this claim because there were many Alzheimer's sufferers in Mossel Bay who might read something similar and think that cannabis could cure the disease.
John du Preez says he has been studying Alzheimer's disease for decades.
Research findings published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease in July 2014 indicate that cannabidiol (CBD) in cannabis might prevent the development of social recognition deficit in rats.
This means that CBD might help people in the early stages of Alzheimer's to retain the ability to recognise the faces of people they know, the findings claim.
This was said to be the first indication that CBD may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
The results of another study, which the advert in the newspaper was referring to, suggest that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from cannabis might promote the removal of protein build-up in the brain, thought to trigger the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
The research team was from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California. It has is also been suggested from research findings that THC may be useful in treating symptoms of Alzheimer's such as aggression or anxiety.
Du Preez is extremely concerned that Alzheimer's patients may be given false hope concerning these deductions. He also says it is not proven that the use of cannabis oil is effective in treating cancer.
There are many websites which claim that cannabis compounds could be useful in treating Alzheimer's disease or its symptoms and which publish anecdotal evidence of this.
Du Preez says he feels organisations should warn Alzheimer's patients that the efficiency of cannabis in treating Alzheimer's disease has not been proved and he lists a few of these organisations.
Most Alzheimer's disease bodies worldwide share the standpoint that the efficacy of cannabis compounds in treating Alzheimer's disease has not been scientifically proven and that research in this regard is in its "infancy".
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