Israeli researchers say cannabis can be beneficial for a variety of illnesses and conditions, from helping cancer patients relieve pain and ease loss of appetite to improving the quality of life for people with post-traumatic stress disorder and neuropsychological conditions.
But, with heroic exceptions, they show little appetite for trying to improve the place.
India has a voracious appetite for energy and minerals, he suggests, but cannot dig, import or shift enough coal to keep the lights on even though there are new power stations, and in theory quite a lot of capacity.Nor have India's politicians shown much appetite for reforms to improve matters.
Since anorexia is a key component of CC, current strategies are to improve appetite by using appetite stimulants to ensure adequate intake of nutrients.
Soluble dietary fibres such as oat β-glucan have been suggested to increase gastrointestinal viscosity to improve appetite regulation and reduce subsequent food intake.
On a more practical side there has been emerging evidence within clinical practise, suggesting that formats such as the cloud can be used to improve appetite in certain patients with compromised taste or smell (as is the case for individuals undergoing chemotherapy or with dementia).
In symptomatic patients, steroids have been used to improve appetite, weight loss, fatigue and pain secondary to bone metastates.
In humans these compounds have been found to improve appetite, caloric intake and nutritional status in several clinical trials.
This was a small study the primary endpoints of which were originally to improve appetite and reduce oesophagitis, not prolong survival.
A large meta-analysis had recently shown its ability to improve appetite and weight gain in cancer patients (Berenstein and Ortiz, 2005), and one randomised clinical trial showed its ability to improve the quality of life (Westman et al, 1999).
