How does Acomplia work?
Acomplia is not a magic bullet that works on its own to reduce body weight significantly. It will reduce your weight a little but, to get the best results, Acomplia should be combined with a program to increase your activity levels and to eat more sensibly. The technical explanation for the weight-loss effect is that Acomplia blocks the operation of the cannabinoid receptor CB1. This is an active component of the "pleasure centres" in the brain. It is also found in the adipose or fatty tissue in your body, as well as your skeletal muscles, liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract. Put simply, Acomplia reduces your appetite so you eat less. It acts directly on fat cells to prevent some weight gain. It may also reduce fear and anxiety by reducing the injection of adrenaline into your brain.
What is the endocannabinoid system?
Your body produces a wide range of different chemical substances which drive and regulate how the body works. One of the more interesting of these substances is called cannabinoids (which, as the name suggests, are chemicals that act in ways similar to natural cannabis). They are small molecules that bind to:
- areas of the brain which control the cognitive functions, intentional movement and emotional responses to behaviour; and
- significant parts of the central nervous system, the immune system, etc.
The CB1receptor is active for regulating your sense of stress, i.e. it works with the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus, and helps to regulate the release of adrenaline. This area of the brain also appears to be a part of the body’s system for controlling appetite and food intake. For this purpose, the CB1 receptor is related to the “reward” system for releasing dopamine — one of the significant neurotransmitters that generates those feelings of pleasure and happiness. It is dopamine that gives us our sense of pleasure when eating. It reinforces our enjoyment of the food by linking our appetite (our wish to eat more of that food) to a chemical incentive system which rewards us when we do eat that food again.
The endocannabinoid system therefore connects both the physical and emotional responses to stress with appetite and energy regulation. This is a general system to manage stress levels. It is usually passive. So if you are relaxed, sitting quietly with a drink in good company, your endocannabinoid system is largely inactive. It only begins to work if something worries you. If that happens, the system tries to bring you back to a state of calm happiness.
It relaxes you by helping you to forget what has happened. But this also triggers a desire to eat. You will know that some people feel the need to eat when they are anxious or depressed. Most people also like to eat more food that is full of fat and sugar. Acomplia disrupts this system by blocking the activity of the CB1 receptor. This breaks the link between your senses of pleasure or fear, and whatever stimulus is presented to you. Left to itself, your endocannabinoid system would simply increase your intake of unhealthy foods and encourage you to eat as a response to stress. The almost inevitable consequence is that you put on weight. But if you block the CB1 receptor, you feel less pleasure in eating, you eat less and this reduces your weight.
Initial studies using genetically obese rats showed that CB1 receptors played a part in the regulation of fat storage. Recent clinical data from the analysis of subcutaneous fat deposits confirm that the levels of CB1 receptors in obese humans, some with a binge eating disorder, is significantly higher than in lean humans. This evidence confirms a link between human metabolic activity in your endocannabinoid system and fat deposits. The same research progression from rats to human has also confirmed higher levels of CB1 receptors in your endocannabinoid system in the hypothalamus, the dopamine system and the opioid system. Again, this confirms a link between brain chemistry and food intake.
The most recent research into the use of drugs like Acomplia to block the natural cannabinoids in your body has focussed on the physiology of:
- pain;
- obesity;
- neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis;
- emotional disturbances such as anxiety and other psychiatric disorders; and
- problems of alcoholism and drug addiction.
So far, the results are encouraging. It seems likely that this research will develop new strategies for both the control of pain and the treatment of both physical and psychological conditions using Acomplia and similar drugs.
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