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Does Marijuana Affect Weight Gain or Bone Density?

The AHA! Team — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:19:02 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – Are the apparent adverse effects of heavy cannabis use on the bone just due to users being thinner? It’s been recognized for decades that cigarette smoking can have “a major effect” on bone health, “increasing the lifetime risk of hip fracture by about half.” It also appears to impair bone healing, so much so that surgeons ask if they should discriminate against smokers because their bone and wound-healing complication rates are so high. What about smoking marijuana? As I discuss in my video Effects of Marijuana on Weight Gain and Bone Density, “There is accumulating evidence to suggest that cannabinoids [cannabis compounds] and their receptors play important roles in bone metabolism by regulating bone mass, bone loss, and bone cell function.” Okay, but are they “friend or foe?” “Results from research on cannabinoids and bone mineral density in rodent models have been inconsistent. Some studies show increased bone formation, others have demonstrated accelerated bone loss, and yet others have shown no association. This variation in results may be due [in part] to differences in the mouse strain, sex, age…” If you can’t even extrapolate from one mouse to another, how can you extrapolate from mice to human beings? What if you just measure cannabis use and bone mineral density in people? Researchers tested thousands of adults and asked them about their cannabis use. There did not appear to be any link between the two, which is a relief. However, in this study, “heavy” cannabis use was defined as just five or more days of use in the previous 30 days. The researchers didn’t ask beyond that, so, theoretically, someone who smoked just five joints in their entire life could be categorized as a “heavy user” if they happened to use it five times in the last four weeks. How about cannabis use on 5,000 separate occasions over a lifetime? Now that’s a heavy user—decades of regular use. In that case, heavy use was “associated with low bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures”—about double the fracture rate presumably due to lower bone density in the hip and spine, although heavy cannabis users were also thinner on average, and thinner people have lighter bones. Hip fracture risk goes down as our weight goes up. Nearly half of underweight women have osteoporosis, but less than 1 percent of obese women do, which makes total sense. Being obese forces our body to make our bones stronger to carry around all of that extra weight. That’s why weight-bearing exercise is so important to constantly put stress on our skeleton. When it comes to our bones, it’s use it or lose it. That’s why astronauts can lose a percent of their bone mass every month in “long-duration spaceflight.” Their bodies aren’t stupid. Why waste all that energy making a strong skeleton if you aren’t going to put any weight on it? So, maybe the reason heavy cannabis users have frailer bones is because they tend to be about 15 pounds lighter. Wait a second. Marijuana users are slimmer? What about the munchies? “The lower BMI that was observed in heavy cannabis users at first sight seems counterintuitive,” given marijuana’s appetite stimulation, but this isn’t the first time this has been noted. “Popular culture commonly depicts marijuana users as a sluggish, lethargic, and unproductive subculture of compulsive snackers,” and marijuana has indeed been found to increase food intake. A single hit can increase appetite, so you’d expect obesity rates to rise in states that legalized it. But, if anything, the rise in obesity appeared to slow after medical marijuana laws were passed, whereas it appeared to just keep rising in other states, as you can see in the graph below and at 3:45 in my video. The reason pot smokers may be slimmer is because of the effect of smoked marijuana on metabolism. We’ve known for more than nearly 40 years that within 15 minutes of lighting up, our metabolic rate goes up by about 25 percent and stays there for at least an hour, as you can see below and at 4:04 in my video. So, that may be playing a role. Is that why heavy cannabis use is associated with lower bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures? Because users just aren’t as overweight? No. Even when taking BMI into account, heavy cannabis use appears to be “an independent predictor” of weaker bones. I originally released a series of marijuana videos in a webinar and downloadable digital DVD. There are still a few videos coming out over the next year, but if you missed any of the already published ones, see the related posts below. For more on bone health, check out the related posts below. Key Takeaways Cigarette smoking is known to have a major negative effect on bone health, increasing the risk of hip fracture and impairing bone healing. Surgeons questioned whether they should discriminate against smokers due to higher complication rates. Cannabinoids and their receptors are implicated in bone metabolism, influencing bone mass, bone loss, and bone cell function. However, research on cannabinoids’ effects on bone mineral density in rodents has shown inconsistent results. Heavy cannabis use, defined as more than 5,000 separate occasions over a lifetime, is “associated with low bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures.” This risk is about double compared to non-heavy users, potentially due to users’ lower bone density in the hip and spine. Heavy cannabis users, despite experiencing increased appetite (the munchies), tend to have lower BMI and are slimmer. The increased metabolic rate observed after smoking marijuana may contribute to this, but heavy cannabis use remains an independent predictor of weaker bones, even when considering BMI. To read the original article click here.

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Not Your Grandpa’s Weed: Today’s Super-Strong Marijuana Causing Mental Health Problems, Addictions

AHA Publisher — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 07:00:59 +0000

Lorie Johnson via CBN News – Health experts and broken-hearted family members along with former marijuana users themselves are all warning about the high potency of today’s weed. The combination of a stronger product plus states legalizing the drug equals a dangerous situation. The highly concentrated marijuana is leading to greater levels of addiction and mental disorders. Zach’s Story Zach Plant starting using marijuana to ease the stress in his life, he told CBN News. At first he enjoyed getting high whenever he could. “It just sounded like a great idea,” he said, “I’d much rather be high than be sober.” Months later, Zach entered the hospital for cannabis-induced psychosis, a mental health disorder that can cause people to lose touch with reality, and experience hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. “I had thoughts of other people wanting to hurt me,” Zach said, “Thoughts of the only way of being safe was to end my own life.” While Zach’s symptoms didn’t last, doctors warned him that if he used marijuana again he could risk going into psychosis and not ever coming out. “Your brain may not recover,” Zach recalled his doctors saying. Higher THC Content Up until about twenty years ago, most marijuana contained comparatively low levels of THC, the ingredient that makes users high, hovering around three percent. Now, that concentration can be ten times greater, 30-percent THC, and in some cases, much more than that. “You can go to a gas station,” Zach explained, “And you will find a vape pen that has, we call them carts, or dab pens, and it will have 50 times the potency of just smoking regular marijuana.” New research published in the medical journal Lancet Psychiatry show’s today highly potent marijuana can be directly linked to a greater risk of mental illness and addiction. Christine Miller, Ph.D., a neuroscientist specializing in psychosis, told CBN News the public should become better educated about the link between marijuana use and serious mental health impacts, including psychosis and suicide. “Marijuana-induced psychosis and marijuana-induced schizophrenia is the single most well-replicated finding in schizophrenia research today,” she said. This super-strong weed is widely available on the streets as well as in cannabis dispensaries nationwide, sources that can both carry risks to the buyer. “The legal pot shops are dedicated to selling very potent products,” Dr. Miller explained, “The only caveat to that is the drugs on the street can have fentanyl laced-in, on occasion, which obviously can be fatal.” Making Marijuana Legal So far 37 states have legalized medical marijuana and in 19 of those states, recreational use is also legal. All of these sales rake in billions of tax dollars for those state and local governments. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-NY), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, (D-OR) introduced legislation in July to federally decriminalize marijuana and establish a federal cannabis tax. “We are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs,” said Sen. Schumer. However, many believe the U.S. needs to revive the war on drugs, now more than ever, including Aubree Adams, the Director of Every Brain Matters, an advocacy group supporting and educating families on the harmful effects of cannabis. “Legalizing or promoting marijuana is not a solution. It’s a nightmare,” Adams told CBN News. “THC is the perfect drug to hijack our children’s brains and embed the disease of addiction and mental illness and we have to stop this nightmare.” She speaks from personal experience. “I’ve witnessed THC psychosis in my own son, and my husband was hearing voices after using 24% THC flour,” she said. The two used the amped-up weed after it became legal in their home state of Colorado, not knowing how powerful it had become. “The THC content in marijuana is increasing on purpose,” Adams said. “The legal marijuana industry has to addict their users. So the more potent the product, the more at risk they are of becoming addicted, just like the tobacco industry did.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates one-third of today’s marijuana users are addicted. “Probably the majority who are using daily are addicted,” said Dr. Miller “Because they’re not just using once a day they’re using several times a day.” Marijuana addiction interferes with normal life, as Zach Plant knows all too well. “Can’t get off work without doing it, can’t go into work without doing it,” he said. Scientists say marijuana addiction can also hamper the development of children and young adults. Dr. Miller explained it can “interfere with developing careers and completing degrees and things like that.” It’s been two years since Zach suffered from marijuana-induced psychosis, and he’s doing great. He’s glad to be off the drug and recommends other steer clear of it too. “For me, it was detrimental,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can know if it will have that effect on them and so it’s very risky to do.” To read the original article click here.

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