 - It is the most notorious 
 side effect of smoking weed. 
 Well, aside from 
 actually wanting to 
 go to a Phish concert. 
 (8-bit music) 
 Hello internet, I am Wil 
 Fulton and this is "Gutbusted," 
 a show where we look at 
 every myth, every rumor, 
 and every piece of gossip 
 you've ever heard about eating 
 and drinking, and 
 well, trying to figure 
 out if they're bull 
 (bleep) or not. 
 Basically, we're the opposite 
 of that kid in college 
 who told you that Jager 
 is fermented deer blood. 
 He was an idiot. This 
 is your confirmation. 
 - I'm gonna throw up. 
 - We're taking a cue 
 from our neighbors 
 up north who, bless 'em 
 recently decided to 
 legalize cannabis, 
 and looking into the munchies, 
 the weed-induced hunger pangs 
 that fueled Harold and Kumar 
 and potentially helped invent 
 the Doritos Locos Taco. 
 I don't know how 
 they came up with it, 
 but, sounds about right. 
 So does smoking reefer actually 
 make you crave junk food? 
 Is it just a rumor 
 perpetuated by DARE 
 to scare dieters away 
 from smoking doobies? 
 Or maybe, do the stoney 
 baloney among us just 
 have less control? 
 Perhaps all three are right. 
 Right? 
 If you've ever ingested 
 weed, don't worry, 
 we're not the cops. 
 You might have noticed 
 a willingness to, 
 how should we put 
 it, want to eat your 
 entire (bleep) fridge. 
 - Some beef jerky, some peanut 
 butter, get some Haagen-Dazs 
 ice cream bars. 
 - [Wil] And that's not 
 necessarily a bad thing, 
 but it's definitely 
 a stoner stereotype, 
 and for good reason. 
 - Yo who's on 
 munchies tonight yo? 
 - In a recent study 
 about, researchers at... 
 You know what, I'm actually 
 going to let one of my more 
 science-inclined colleagues at 
 our sister brand, 
 Seeker, take this one. 
 Hi! I'm Natalia 
 Reagan, your currently 
 not-high Seeker correspondent. 
 Researchers at Washington 
 State University 
 have recently found genetic 
 and physiological events 
 in the body that allow cannabis 
 to turn eating behavior 
 on or off, according to 
 lead researcher John Davis, 
 who is probably 
 currently very high 
 and eating a bag of Doritos. 
 Specifically, even a 
 small dose of cannabis 
 can cause a surge in 
 ghrelin, a hormone 
 that informs the brain 
 of hunger sensations. 
 This leads to what they call 
 more frequent, smaller meals. 
 And that's what I 
 call the munchies. 
 And neuroscientists from 
 the University of Bordeaux 
 have found that THC actually 
 increased lab mice's 
 ability to smell food, leading 
 them to eat more of it. 
 So cannabis can not only 
 make you feel hungrier, 
 it can actually make 
 food seem more appealing, 
 even the cold pizza you 
 have in your fridge. 
 - This is the best 
 meal I've ever had. 
 - Or Del Taco at 3am 
 'cause that's my jam. 
 But then again, if 
 you've smoked weed, 
 you probably already know this. 
 I hope you're doing 
 it now. Bring some. 
 - So, ingesting cannabis 
 can cause your 
 food-craving hormones to 
 ramp up, and might 
 even make food taste better too. 
 This isn't the worst 
 thing, and in some cases 
 it can be a great thing. 
 Patients undergoing 
 chemotherapy use it 
 to increase their appetite 
 and that's pretty awesome. 
 - Thank you, thank 
 you very much. 
 - So the munchies aren't 
 a joke, they aren't a rumor, 
 and they definitely 
 aren't a bit invented 
 by Uncle Cheech and Uncle Chong 
 to make baby boomers laugh. 
 They are a real, viable 
 side effect of smoking weed. 
 At the end of the day, 
 the munchies are real. 
 Feel free to drink the 
 bong water-flavored Kool-Aid here. 
 For more weed myths, and 
 also a power ranking 
 of all the best Ben 
 & Jerry's flavors, 
 in case you're high right now, 
 go to Thrillist.com. 
 (synth music) 
 (electric guitar) 
 If you're not super high 
 right now and you know what, 
 even if you are, hit 
 that subscribe button. 
 We have a lot more 
 in store for you, 
 and frankly I don't want 
 you to miss any of it. 
 Later nerds. 
