Medical Marijuana to combat Obesity and Diabetes?

Originally shared by MarijuanaDoctors.com

Medical Marijuana to combat Obesity and Diabetes?

Investigators from the Conference of Quebec University Health Centers studied 786 Inuit adults age 18 to 74 from the Arctic region and analyzed if there was a correlation between persons who use marijuana and those who didn't as it relates to body mass index (BMI) and insulin levels.

Now the common correlation is that marijuana gives individuals "the munchies," and as such the expected findings would be that marijuana users have a higher BMI and higher fasting insulin levels. But, the results of researchers' cross-sectional adult survey was far from what you'd expect.

As the study data showed, regular cannabis users had a BMI of 26.8 compared to non-users which had a BMI of 28.6, after researchers controlled for age, gender, and other important factors. But, the observed benefits transcended just users' BMI. Marijuana users in the study also had lower fasting insulin and lower HOMA-IR, which is a measure of insulin resistance. These results echo a study we previously examined that was published in The American Journal of Medicine suggesting marijuana may be effective in controlling type 2 diabetes.

Based on the findings, the study's authors came to this intriguing conclusion:

The inverse association [between cannabis use and BMI, fasting insulin, and HOMA-IR] observed in our work supports evidence from a larger population of previous cross-sectional and follow-up investigations... As a result, cannabinoids from cannabis may be viewed as an interesting avenue for research on obesity and associated conditions.

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