How does Rimonabant work?
A Rimonabant tablet does not seek out "fat" cells in your body and then destroy them. Unfortunately for those who are overweight, scientists have yet to design a magic pill can can reduce your weight significantly on its own. Although it may indirectly have a slight weight-loss effect, it really only works when combined with a decision to eat less, to eat more healthy food, and to exercise more.
The reason is that the active ingredients are designed to affect the chemistry of the brain rather than the tissue in your body. Although Rimonabant does enter the adipose or fatty deposits found in your skeletal muscles, liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract, its function is to inhibit the cannabinoid receptor CB1, which is the primary moderator of the "pleasure centres" in the brain. Put simply, Rimonabant breaks the association in your brain between the pleasure of eating and the activity of eating. You therefore feel less satisfaction in eating. This reduces your appetite and you eat less. Indirectly, there may be some effect on the cellular structure of your body 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 is a complex chemical factory producing several thousand different substances that interact together to enable you to think and to act. Scientists have isolated one of the more interesting substances which they have called the “cannabinoids”. As a class, these chemicals act in ways that are similar to the effects achieved by natural cannabis, i.e. they are small molecules that affect:
- the cognitive functions of the brain, i.e. the higher functions to control they way you think, how you react in emotional terms, and the intentional movements you make; and
- the more important parts of the central nervous system, the immune system, etc.
Rimonabant interacts with and either slows or stops the operation of the CB1 receptor. The CB1 receptor actively regulates the system for responding emotionally to the surrounding situation. It also affects the degree of stress or anxiety you may feel because it works alongside the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus to regulate the rate at which adrenaline is released into your body.
It is most active in that part of the brain which controls all forms of appetite, i.e. the CB1 receptor is a trigger for the brain’s "reward" system. It is a signal for the release of dopamine — the neurotransmitter responsible for generating sensations of pleasure and happiness. It is the presence of dopamine in the brain that creates your sense of pleasure when eating. It reinforces your enjoyment of the food by linking your appetite (your wish to eat more of that food) to a chemical incentive system which rewards you when you do eat that food again.
Taken as a whole, the endocannabinoid system underpins the operation of systems for both the physical and emotional responses to any given stimulus. For example, some people will feel the need to eat in situations of stress. The body is signalling that more energy is required to meet potential demands for activity. It creates a sensation of discomfort (hunger) that we satisfy by eating. In fact, the activity of eating itself becomes a pleasurable way of relaxing the tension of the moment. Generally, this is a general system to manage stress levels. It is usually passive. So if you are calm, perhaps on holiday looking out of your hotel windows at a beautiful view, your endocannabinoid system is also calm. There is only a need for it to respond if you start to worry about something. Should your mood darken, the manager of the chemical factory orders the production of the tried and tested compounds to restore your calm.
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