Do Mangos Enhance Your High?

Many lovers of weed have made claims that mangos are the magic fruit that gets you way higher than you usually would be. Some say it doesn’t increase your high, but it makes it last longer. This concept has been shared widely in the cannabis community, but is it true?

The science on this topic is still unsure, but there are reasons to believe mangos are more than a juicy snack and will increase your high. Let’s get into the chemical compounds found in both mangos and cannabis and whether or not they get you higher when they interact.

What’s Up With Mangos?

Mangos are a tasty stone fruit high in vitamins and low in calories. They originated in northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India and come from the tropical tree Mangifera indica. Mangos are famous for their health benefits, such as containing high doses of Vitamins A, C, and E, which are vital for humans.

Mangos contribute to health in several ways, including improving digestion, increasing bone strength, improving skin and hair, reducing asthma flare-ups, and helping stabilize blood/sugar levels in diabetic patients. So even if they don’t make your high better, don’t be too upset; they are still a great fruit.

What are Terpenes?

People love mangos for their fiber, vitamins, low-calorie content, taste, and terpenes! Wait, terpenes? Does that sound familiar? Terpenes are compounds found in weed that give it that strong, aromatic smell that differs from strain to strain. There are over 150 different terpenes found in weed.

The most common terpenes are:

• Myrcene
• Limonene
• Linalool
• Caryophyllene
• Alpha-pinene and Beta-pinene
• Alpha-bisabolol
• Eucalyptol
• Trans-nerolidol
• Pinene

Some of these terpenes may sound like common plants or fruits. This is because these terpenes are found in those plants in high quantities, such as pinene, which is abundant in pine trees. Many terpenes found in cannabis are also found in common herbs such as thyme and basil and also found in edible plants like broccoli and mangos.

Terpenes have extremely mild psychoactive effects. People use them in aromatherapy, beer hops, wine, and perfumes. Terpenes can have effects that make the user feel mildly sedated, stimulated, or aroused, depending on the combination of terpenes used.

If you’ve ever had a stoner friend open a bag of weed, hold it up to your face, and ask, “Doesn’t this smell just like blueberry Bazooka bubblegum?”, it is because of the terpenes! But the terpenes don’t just affect the smell of your weed but also change the type of high you get. Some offer a calmer, sleepy high, while others activate your creative juices or make you giggly.

One specific terpene, myrcene, is prevalent in cannabis. This terpene is also found in mangos, leading people to believe there is some reaction when pairing mangos and weed together.

The Magic of Myrcene

So the rumor around mangos making you higher comes from the fact mangos are high in myrcene. But contrary to popular belief, they don’t contain as much myrcene as one may expect.

It seems that myrcene makes your brain barrier more permeable, so the compounds THC and CBD can reach your brain faster and more efficiently, driving you higher sooner after smoking. Because myrcene connects to our cannabinoid receptors, it enters our brain through the same path as THC and CBD.

How to Combine Mangos and Cannabis

It is recommended you consume a mango at least 45 minutes before smoking and no earlier than 2 hours. This allows the mango to digest but not altogether leave your system.

Some believe a diet that consistently includes mangos may be the best way to experience the increased high. There has been no research conducted to determine how to make the most out of combining mangos and cannabis. The consensus is to consume the mangos a bit before the weed.

It shouldn’t matter how you are consuming the mangos or the weed, whether you want to chug some mango juice and then take a dab, or eat dried mango chunks and then eat an edible. As long as it all makes it into your system simultaneously, the terpenes should mingle accordingly.

More Foods Containing Myrcene

Mango isn’t the only food containing myrcene, even though it’s the only one associated with weed. Other natural foods contain traces of myrcene, and some even include much more than mangos do. Consider snacking on these the next time you feel like tolerance is getting in the way of your high.

🥦 Broccoli

Broccoli is high in a terpene called beta-caryophyllene, which is in cannabis. Because of this, people believe broccoli may combine with terpenes in cannabis to increase or alter the effects of smoking.

Beta-caryophyllene attaches to our CB2 receptors just like THC does, giving the chemicals the perfect opportunity to connect. Beta-caryophyllene is known to have effects that reduce stress, anxiety and could easily exacerbate the same effects in THC and CBD.

🥔 Sweet Potato

Like mangos, sweet potatoes are high in Vitamins B and E, which naturally raise serotonin levels in the brain. Because sweet potatoes contain similar compounds as mangos, it is thought they also have the potential to enhance your high and increase your mood overall.

🌿 Herbs

Lemongrass may be your new smoking buddy. It contains far more myrcene than mangos do! Lemongrass and other herbs like Basil and Thyme are 40% compromised of myrcene. This is a higher concentration of myrcene than is found in mangos, so these herbs may be more effective in increasing high than mangos or any other terpene-rich food.

Final Answer

There haven’t been any serious scientific studies on the relationship between mangos and cannabis. So the evidence isn’t there to confirm this rumor. Many stoners tell anecdotes about mangos bettering their high significantly, but there is no solid proof of these effects.

The takeaway is we can’t yet say for sure that mangos increase the psychoactive effects of weed, but we also can’t say they don’t. Maybe the next time you opt for weed delivery, go for a mango too and see for yourself!