Imodium may be more used for more than just saving you from an embarrassing situation. The popular anti-diarrheal medication can also support the treatment of aggressive brain tumors. Previously, researchers found that Imodium was linked to a decrease glioblastoma cells (brain tumor cells), but it was unclear why.
When cells are damaged, the body breaks down the cells and recycles them.

This process is called autophagy , which means “self-eating” . Loperamide, the medicine in Imodium, triggers this response. Sjoerd van Wijk, who is leading the research, said in a statement , “Our experiments with cell lines show that autophagy could support the treatment of glioblastoma brain tumours.”
Tumor cells over-replicate.

Cancerous cells are dangerous because they will not break down. Once cells are damaged the body attempts to remove them by triggering their destruction. However, cancer cells can evade that system and continue to grow unchecked. If medicine can trigger the autophagy, or destruction response, in those cells, it could destroy the cancer.
Is taking Imodium dangerous?

If loperamide, which is found in Imodium, triggers cell death, wouldn’t that make it dangerous? Thankfully not. When you ingest Imodium, it binds with sites in the intestine. The drug is not absorbed by the bowels and is therefore not dangerous.
This discovery goes beyond brain cancer.

Loperamide works by creating a stress response in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Stress in a cell’s ER triggers the autophagy, or self-destruction, response. This means that loperamide may be applied to other diseases that disrupt ER stress responses. For example, future research could shed light on treatments for dementia. More research is needed, but this research opens exciting new possibilities.
h/t: Goethe Universitat h/t: IFL Science
Last Updated on January 4, 2021 by Jennifer Seaton