Marijuana use may up pre-diabetes risk

Prior studies have suggested marijuana use can lower the risk of diabetes, while some have shown an association with increased calorie consumption.

They wanted to investigate three things: is there a link between marijuana use, prediabetes or the more damaging type 2 diabetes? In the last National Survey on Drug Use and Health, done in 2013, an estimated 19.8 million people were now using marijuana for health reasons or recreational purposes.

A new study finds people who have smoked pot more than 100 times are significantly more likely to have prediabetes when they reach middle age.

Scientists from the University of Minnesota analysed more than 3,000 Americans, and found that regular, current users had a 65% higher risk of developing prediabetes.

The prevalence of marijuana use in the U.S.by individuals who are 12-years or older has increased since 2002. “The elevated legalization and use of marijuana will draw extra consideration from researchers and customers, and we’ll study extra as analysis on the well being results of marijuana use will increase”.

“Or marijuana use may have a more noticeable impact on glucose metabolism in the prediabetes range compared with the diabetes range”, added Bancks.

Bancks was the lead author of the study.

The decades-spanning study recruited individuals in the 18-30 age group from 1985 to 1986.

Looking at participants’ answers to lifestyle questions, the researchers discovered the percentage who self-reported current marijuana-use declined over time, from 28 percent in 1985-1986 to 12 percent in 2010-2011.

In an email exchange with MedPage Today, Bancks wrote that the objective measurement of prediabetes and diabetes status in the CARDIA study using multiple metabolic measures was a novel strength of the newly published study, along with the prospective and concomitant assessment of the association between marijuana and diabetes and prediabetes.

Bancks suggested that the lack of a perceived association may result from the exclusion of people with higher diabetes risk and higher marijuana use.

But in spite of the growing movement to make marijuana usage legal, not much is known about marijuana side effects, and the herb’s effect on metabolic health.

A new study about marijuana stressed that the usage of the herb in early adulthood is associated with an increased risk for prediabetes but not diabetes during middle adulthood as shown in the adjusted analysis of data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, MedPageToday has learned.

Going forward, Bancks has no immediate plans to continue this research since his dissertation focuses on whether and how cardiovascular health, brain structure, and mental abilities intersect.