Study: Why Pot Smokers Are Skinnier

[kristopher]

Study: Why Pot Smokers Are Skinnier
Marijuana users had smaller waists and scored higher across several measures of blood sugar regulation.

PROBLEM: "Marijuana use is associated with an acute increase in caloric intake," goes the clinical jargon for popular lore. Still despite eating more while high (by some measures, over 600 extra calories per day), marijuana users' extra intake doesn't seem to be reflected in increased BMI. Indeed, studies have identified a reduced prevalence of obesity in the pot smoking community.

METHODOLOGY: Researchers at the University of Nebraska, the Harvard School of Public Health, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of over 4,600 adults. About 12 percent of the participants self-identified as current marijuana users, and another 42 percent reported having used the drug in the past. The participants were tested for various measures of blood sugar control: their fasting insulin and glucose levels; insulin resistance; cholesterol levels; and waist circumference.

RESULTS: Current marijuana users had significantly smaller waist circumference than participants who had never used marijuana, even after adjusting for factors like age, sex, tobacco and alcohol use, and physical activity levels. They also had higher levels of HDL ("good cholesterol&quot . The most significant differences between those who smoked marijuana and those who never or no longer did was that current smokers' insulin levels were reduced by 16 percent and their insulin resistance (a condition in which the body has trouble absorbing glucose from the bloodstream) was reduced by 17 percent.

People who had previously used marijuana...

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/study-why-pot-smokers-are-skinnier/275846/

[bananas]

1. The study is free to download

At the bottom of the article is a link to the abstract, I clicked on the PDF button and it downloaded.

[kristopher]

2. Thank you.

Nicely done study - 4600+ subjects.

[bvar22]

3. Well, I'm convinced.

Where can I sign up?

[kristopher]

4. It sounds like it could be the basis for prescribing MedMJ?

There aren't a lot of options out there for reducing diabetic risk.

[tridim]

5. Shocked that an herb like Cannabis is nutritious.

Why would satan do that?

[Gregorian]

6. Thanks for the reminder.

I'll be right back.

[IHateTheGOP]

7. Plus the music!

And the sunsets and life in general!!

[imthevicar]

8. no suprise hear,

it's been only more difficult for me to shed the extra pounds since I had to quit smoking MJ for my Job's drug testing policy!

[Rozlee]

9. Hey, negates the calories in the brownies you cook them in.

Win/win.

[malthaussen]

10. I don't see a "why" here.

In fact the article says they don't know "why," just that they do.

-- Mal

[bananas]

11. "these findings suggest that marijuana somehow works to improve insulin control" nt

[malthaussen]

12. "somehow works to improve insulin control" is not a "why."

Perhaps we quibble over semantics, but what I see here is a rationale for further experimentation, not an explanation.

-- Mal

[bananas]

13. Did you read the paper, or even the abstract? nt

[Blue Owl]

14. Toke up slim down

[pscot]

15. My Doc is getting a copy of that adstract

[Caspian Morgan]

16. Kinda odd.

Especially considering how folks get the munchies when they get high.

[kristopher]

17. Yes it is. They mention an extra 600 cal/day in the OP...

Maybe being high also results in forgetting to eat regularly, thus reducing total intake?

If the findings stand up under further scrutiny, I'm inclined to think it is probably some sort of fundamental metabolic adjustment along the lines of how the various blood pressure meds work. But don't listen to me as I don't have any knowledge of the topic beyond being a "health care consumer".

If there are any informed persons reading I'd love to hear speculation on what mechanisms might possibly be at work to produce these results.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Interesting. n/t

[kristopher]

20. Stumbled on an interesting factoid that might be related...

Medical marijuana: Hunter-gatherer users have fewer worms
June 1, 2015
By Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer

Hagen-EdVANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University researchers have found that the more hunter-gatherers smoke cannabis, the less they are infected by intestinal worms. The link suggests that they may unconsciously be, in effect, smoking medical marijuana.

Ed Hagen, a WSU Vancouver anthropologist, explored cannabis use among Aka foragers to see if people away from the cultural and media influences of Western civilization might use plant toxins medicinally.

“In the same way we have a taste for salt, we might have a taste for psychoactive plant toxins because these things kill parasites,” he said.

In an earlier study, Hagen found that the heavier tobacco smokers among the Aka also had fewer helminths, parasitic intestinal worms.

He cautions, however, that the studies have their limits. While nicotine has been seen killing worms in livestock, that hasn’t been directly demonstrated in humans. Cannabis kills worms in a petri dish, but researchers have not shown it killing worms in animals, Hagen said....

https://news.wsu.edu/2015/06/01/medical-marijuana-hunter-gatherer-users-have-fewer-parasites/#.VW55f2Bh2Rv