Patients who suffer from gastrointestinal issues can often fall into great pain or discomfort simply from the routine act of trying to eat. These issues are very serious when they strike, particularly when they’re persistent and not temporary. Everyone’s body needs sustenance, and without it life is impossible.

New medical research is pointing to a seemingly unlikely pairing that could offer comfort to people suffering from digestive diseases. The chemical compounds that give peppers their heat and spice is being found to pair well with the chemicals in cannabis, and both can match up very beneficially with natural bodily processes in quite remarkable ways.

The body’s immune system tends to shift into a higher gear when your temperature is elevated, which is why many bodily responses to disease involve a fever. Research into capsaicin, one of the primary elements in peppers, has shown it can produce a similarly elevated immune system response. But in a very unique way. The capsaicin helped patients’ bodies not go into overdrive on natural processes that don’t need fixing, which has been observed in diseases such as irritable bowel disorder or other autoimmune issues. Further research showed that cannabinoids can act in similar ways. Together, they might offer new relief for those suffering from things modern medicine has yet been unable to treat.