You're probably familiar with the occasional use of marijuana in treating certain side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. The chemicals in marijuana that are useful in those instances are called cannabinoids.

While it is true that cannabinoids can cause mood-altering effects, they also have many other more useful effects, including:

• Stimulating growth in neurons
• Easing nausea
• Play a part in learning
• Relayer between immune system and nervous system

Interestingly, cannabinoids not only occur in nature, but also within our own bodies. It's the natural human forms that are known to assist with learning and communication between body systems.

Now a recent study conducted in Germany and published this week in Science magazine reports that cannabinoids may also help prevent allergic skin reactions.

The catch? The study was, unfortunately, conducted with mice. So, it's much too soon to know if there will be similar results in humans. Researchers don't really know how the cannabinoids work either.

But, if you suffer from chronic skin allergies as I do, there may someday be an alternative to steroid creams, which can thin the skin and to which you may develop a tolerance. And, that's great news!