> The researchers found that new cases of diabetes were significantly higher in the cannabis group (1,937; 2.2%) compared to the healthy group (518; 0.6%).
We know there's a path from obesity to diabetes. I think it would be interesting to see if there's a path from cannabis to obesity.
klipt · 3h ago
> a path from cannabis to obesity
I believe the technical term is "the munchies"
bb88 · 2h ago
You would think that's the mechanism, but there seems to be evidence that points to lower BMI with cannabis use.
Many people might have removed alcohol intake with cannabis use, to reduce overall caloric intake.
Sparkle-san · 2h ago
I wonder if this is skewed by the states where marijuana was legal/more accessible during that time window. Colorado was the first state to legalize it and is also the state with the lowest BMI.
zoklet-enjoyer · 2h ago
Washington was the first state to legalize because of the time difference
MegaButts · 1h ago
Wouldn't it be the opposite? 9 AM in Colorado is 8 AM in Washington.
Sparkle-san · 1h ago
Depending on the level of pedantry you want you could argue for either. Washington's measure went into effect first, on Dec 1st, 2013 while Colorado's went into effect on Jan 1st, 2014. Colorado opened retail shops that same day though while the first shops didn't open until July 2014 in Washington and they had a lot of initial issues around licensing leading to slower expansion.
MegaButts · 1h ago
Sure, but in reference to the comment "because of the time difference" it seems pretty obvious he was referring to time zones, not the dates the laws took effect.
Anyway, it doesn't actually matter. Cheers.
blackjack_ · 2h ago
I don't know why this isn't talked about that often, but a lot of people who smoke weed end up needing to smoke weed to be able to eat. Which probably is part of the thing that leads to reduced BMI.
DontchaKnowit · 1h ago
Yeah in my experience real heavy users of weed don't get munchies anymore and actually just smoke instead of eat pretty frequently. Eating kinda kills your high.
Source: was a burnout in college for 4 years
bb88 · 21m ago
My personal hypothesis, is that cravings (drug, sugar, food, sex, alcohol, socializing, etc) fill a need for stimulation. Most people get that through maybe watching sports, reading books, or if you can, mental stimulation (math, science, programming, 3d printing, juggling, etc). Or maybe some combination of all of them. If you didn't have very many friends growing up, it felt agonizing with a deep desire to fit in -- that was the "social" craving kicking in early in life.
Some of those cravings exist to extend life and to help the species multiply. Some of them were artificial (drugs, alcohol, gambling, computer gaming).
GLP-1 agonists (wegovy, zepbound) are prescribed for certain addictions other than obesity. This shows that we don't understand addiction at all.
tapoxi · 2h ago
Speaking from personal experience I went from a BMI of 24 (healthy) to a BMI of 31 (obese) because of daily cannabis use that gave me insane munchies.
This may be genetic, I had friends that didn't get them nearly as badly as I did.
(I have since quit weed and lost the weight.)
No comments yet
caboteria · 2h ago
Also "couch lock", i.e., reduced physical activity.
dyauspitr · 2h ago
There’s also something to cannabis potentially messing with your metabolism because anecdotally potheads usually aren’t particularly fat.
thekevan · 18m ago
I always wonder about connection and correlation in these studies. Does the cannabis do something to the body to cause diabetes or is the type of person who would indulge in cannabis also the type of person that would indulge in some cake?
faangguyindia · 38m ago
Doesn't it boost appetite? It's traditionally fed to underweight kids in india.
sonicggg · 1h ago
Part of research work is removing extraneous variables.
leoh · 3h ago
very confusing results around this the last few years
there needs to be a paper that reconciles conflicting findings.
khelavastr · 45m ago
This doesn't make sense as causation. Cannabis stimulates insulin-sensitizing hormone.
It makes sense for the same reason that prediabetic people feel better with cannabis
lr4444lr · 1h ago
I occasionally use CBN for sleep, never THC, so maybe it's different, but I quickly develop a tolerance, like within a week of daily use and have to cease for many days or a few weeks to get any further benefit at all.
As I read, the endocannabinoid system in the brain is pretty homeostasic.
Does something similar happen with cannabis munchies subsiding to people who ingest THC or whole leaf products daily?
heavyset_go · 1h ago
Yes, but it remains a good anti-emetic.
morkalork · 1h ago
I've been taking CBD daily in the evening for sleep (can't find a quality source if CBN where I live - I am interned tho, the research is compelling for sleep) and I find it can act almost like an appetite suppressant.
giraffe_lady · 1h ago
Anecdotally yes. I'm a very occasional user now and get insane munchies but when I was using it differently I felt that tolerance built quickly and I stopped having munchies once it did. Not even quite daily use either like 3-4/week. Another comment elsewhere in here describes the same experience.
Havoc · 2h ago
Everything fun is always bad :(
lvl155 · 1h ago
Anything in excess is bad for you. Even water.
afw333 · 59m ago
From my experience regular stoners eat less and less.
Yes at first the munchies might cause issues but quickly with the developed tolerance it gets so intense that these people will barely eat without having consumed which usually causes them to loose weight.
Also someone at age 18 already being a regular stoner to age 25 being a regular stoner is vastly different.
apwell23 · 42m ago
occasional use makes me gain weight like crazy.
homeonthemtn · 3h ago
Wonder if cannabis triggers blood sugar level changes which causes the munchies.
I have funky blood sugar issues, and I can certainly see the overlap in how the cravings feel but never made the connection until now. Very interesting.
AngryData · 2h ago
There does seem to be an effect on blood sugar levels, but apparently not in a simple way because studies struggle to get consistent results. It seems like it lowers it a little bit, atleast at first, but many people spend far more time with excess sugar levels, possibly due to eating in response.
Anecdotally it always seemed to me that it didn't make you that hungry straight out, but it did depress the feeling of satiation after eating so it is much easier to binge on food once you start eating something.
Fade_Dance · 2h ago
Seems to me that that would have been known/measured by now if it was the case. Fairly easy to measure.
onemoresoop · 2h ago
I wonder if this is connected to the appetite the cannabis consumption brings about. I personally experienced appetite from consuming it but learned that not acting on it is equally pleasant. Maybe I have more self control or something...
pama · 1h ago
Is there a link somewhere to the actual scientific contribution? (Or at leadt an abstract?)
yowlingcat · 2h ago
This is not a great "study" if you can call it that. Let me be specific by pointing a passage that's doing a lot of the heavy lifting:
```
After controlling HDL and LDL cholesterol, uncontrolled high blood pressure, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, cocaine use, alcohol use and several other lifestyle risk factors, the researchers found that new cases of diabetes were significantly higher in the cannabis group (1,937; 2.2%) compared to the healthy group (518; 0.6%), with statistical analysis showing cannabis users at nearly four times the risk of developing diabetes compared to non-users.
```
Note "nearly four times the risk of developing diabetes" -- this feels like a dangerous exaggeration of "four times the correlation of having developed diabetes." No controls for diet, exercise, etc. In comparison to a gold standard clinical trial this is about as far as you can go on the other end.
That's not to say that I think that a prospective link doesn't merit deeper research -- far from it. In fact, Novo Nordisk has an anti-obesity drug in phase 2a trials, monlunabant [1], that serves as a CB1 (cannabinoid receptor 1) inverse agonist which has a mechanism of action inverse to THC. The clinical trials are showing that it creates modest weight loss, so it seems that there's likely something to how that receptor is activated that could cause weight gain. What's not clear to me is whether all the other receptors that THC activates create a compound effect at a population health level that leads to net weight gain and the development of diabetes, the inverse, or non-correlated outcomes, and whether those occur across the board or differentially based on genetic makeup.
without reading this study in depth my immediate thoughts are:
- cannabis is not the direct link with diabetes
- cannabis urges munchies > overeating
- overeating causes obesity
- obesity causes diabetes
cies · 1h ago
People in the dispensary look better (slimmer) than in the wallmart.
d-moon · 44m ago
You’re also interfacing with folks in a niche service industry here. If you’re a sales rep, you’re definitely being screened to represent what people want to be perceived with using the product.
sonicggg · 1h ago
Comparing them with the People of Walmart is not setting the bar very high.
hereme888 · 2h ago
The munchies....
imchillyb · 3h ago
> The authors note that more research is needed on the long-term endocrine effects of cannabis use and whether diabetes risks are limited to inhaled products or other forms of cannabis such as edibles.
This study did not differentiate between edibles, which are loaded with sugar, and inhaled cannabis usage. And, since they are not a food product, edibles do not carry the same onus as food for labeling, nor similar regulatory oversight.
This seems a significant flaw in the data gathering and could change the ultimate conclusion of the study.
yosame · 3h ago
Edibles wouldn't have enough sugar to singularly cause diabetes.
DontchaKnowit · 1h ago
Thats ridiculous, 50 calories worth of edible is enough to get you high as balls for like 8 hours.
Tell me youre not a edible user without twlling me youre not an edible user
cactusplant7374 · 3h ago
Is it really possible to get diabetes from eating one piece of candy every day?
leptons · 3h ago
Not all edibles have sugar, but most seem to be pure candy. It's dangerous too because if the edible tastes so amazing you want to eat another one and then you get way too high. That's why when I used to make "magic brownies" I would make two batches, one of them "plain", so I could eat those after eating the magic one.
Level Protabs are pretty amazing, so clean and zero sugar. It's literally just THC and a little bit of corn starch pressed into a pill. I break them in half and it gives me a focused creativity boost.
No comments yet
gabrielhfrn · 3h ago
When you frame it that way, it almost brings the study's findings into question!
I wonder if it was truly a flaw or if it was a calculated omission.
Title: Marijuana users less likely to be overweight or have obesity
Opening line: New research finds that, despite the common phenomenon of having “the munchies” after using marijuana, cannabis users tend to weigh less and are less likely to be obese.
This involved 33k participants in the US, so at least one order of magnitude smaller and in a different context.
We know there's a path from obesity to diabetes. I think it would be interesting to see if there's a path from cannabis to obesity.
I believe the technical term is "the munchies"
Mouse study: https://medschool.uci.edu/news/new-research-may-explain-why-...
Human study: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/can.2024.0069
Many people might have removed alcohol intake with cannabis use, to reduce overall caloric intake.
Anyway, it doesn't actually matter. Cheers.
Source: was a burnout in college for 4 years
Some of those cravings exist to extend life and to help the species multiply. Some of them were artificial (drugs, alcohol, gambling, computer gaming).
GLP-1 agonists (wegovy, zepbound) are prescribed for certain addictions other than obesity. This shows that we don't understand addiction at all.
This may be genetic, I had friends that didn't get them nearly as badly as I did.
(I have since quit weed and lost the weight.)
No comments yet
https://www.veriheal.com/blog/study-women-who-consume-a-lot-...
there needs to be a paper that reconciles conflicting findings.
It makes sense for the same reason that prediabetic people feel better with cannabis
As I read, the endocannabinoid system in the brain is pretty homeostasic.
Does something similar happen with cannabis munchies subsiding to people who ingest THC or whole leaf products daily?
Also someone at age 18 already being a regular stoner to age 25 being a regular stoner is vastly different.
I have funky blood sugar issues, and I can certainly see the overlap in how the cravings feel but never made the connection until now. Very interesting.
Anecdotally it always seemed to me that it didn't make you that hungry straight out, but it did depress the feeling of satiation after eating so it is much easier to binge on food once you start eating something.
```
After controlling HDL and LDL cholesterol, uncontrolled high blood pressure, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, cocaine use, alcohol use and several other lifestyle risk factors, the researchers found that new cases of diabetes were significantly higher in the cannabis group (1,937; 2.2%) compared to the healthy group (518; 0.6%), with statistical analysis showing cannabis users at nearly four times the risk of developing diabetes compared to non-users.
```
Note "nearly four times the risk of developing diabetes" -- this feels like a dangerous exaggeration of "four times the correlation of having developed diabetes." No controls for diet, exercise, etc. In comparison to a gold standard clinical trial this is about as far as you can go on the other end.
That's not to say that I think that a prospective link doesn't merit deeper research -- far from it. In fact, Novo Nordisk has an anti-obesity drug in phase 2a trials, monlunabant [1], that serves as a CB1 (cannabinoid receptor 1) inverse agonist which has a mechanism of action inverse to THC. The clinical trials are showing that it creates modest weight loss, so it seems that there's likely something to how that receptor is activated that could cause weight gain. What's not clear to me is whether all the other receptors that THC activates create a compound effect at a population health level that leads to net weight gain and the development of diabetes, the inverse, or non-correlated outcomes, and whether those occur across the board or differentially based on genetic makeup.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monlunabant
That's 4x.
That seems quite large to me.
No comments yet
This study did not differentiate between edibles, which are loaded with sugar, and inhaled cannabis usage. And, since they are not a food product, edibles do not carry the same onus as food for labeling, nor similar regulatory oversight.
This seems a significant flaw in the data gathering and could change the ultimate conclusion of the study.
Tell me youre not a edible user without twlling me youre not an edible user
Level Protabs are pretty amazing, so clean and zero sugar. It's literally just THC and a little bit of corn starch pressed into a pill. I break them in half and it gives me a focused creativity boost.
No comments yet
I wonder if it was truly a flaw or if it was a calculated omission.
Title: Marijuana users less likely to be overweight or have obesity
Opening line: New research finds that, despite the common phenomenon of having “the munchies” after using marijuana, cannabis users tend to weigh less and are less likely to be obese.
This involved 33k participants in the US, so at least one order of magnitude smaller and in a different context.