Cannabis produces acute hyperphagia in humans and rodents via increased reward valuation for, and motivation to, acquire food

Abstract Cannabis stimulates feeding, though the mechanistic underpinnings are not well characterized. Studies incorporating translational strategies leveraging advantages of clinical and preclinical approaches are necessary to determine the appetite-stimulating therapeutic potential of cannabis. We undertook parallel human and rodent studies to show that vaporized delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol dominant cannabis acutely and robustly increases energy intake, food motivation, and reward value, irrespective of food type, satiety, food aversion, and gender/sex, but does not alter human macronutrient intake proportions and abolishes rat macronutrient preferences.