Cannabis users are less likely to develop liver cancer, new medical study finds

Liver cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers. Once you have it, liver cancer is a life-threatening condition and can quickly become fatal.

Primary liver cancer starts in the organ itself, while secondary cancer means it has spread to the liver from another part of the body. Among the three primary liver cancer types, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form, followed by intrahepatic cancer and angiosarcoma. Liver cancer can be caused by several factors, including fatty liver disease, diabetes, alcoholism, tobacco smoking, obesity, and exposure to toxic chemicals.

Although liver cancer primarily affects seniors between the ages of 55 and 65, anyone can get liver cancer. The prognosis is 3 to 35, according to Cancer.org, depending on how far the cancer has progressed after diagnosis.

However, new studies have shown that cannabis users are less likely to develop liver cancer.

New data published in Cureus, a medical journal, shows that adults who have recently used marijuana are twice as likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma than those who have not used cannabis in the past to have. To arrive at these results, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, along with researchers from Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC, analyzed more than 1 million subjects, their cannabis use patterns, and the prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma among them.

They reported that current marijuana users “have 55 percent less HCC than non-cannabis users.”

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first and largest cross-sectional population-based study of hospitalized patients to investigate the association between cannabis use and HCC…. Due to the cross-sectional structure of our study, we cannot derive any direct causal effects. Therefore, we propose prospective clinical studies to better understand the mechanism by which various compounds, particularly CBD in cannabis, may regulate the development of hepatocellular carcinoma,” the authors concluded.

other studies

There have been other studies that mirror these findings.

In 2018, a study analyzed around 320,000 participants, all of whom had a history of alcohol abuse and marijuana. The researchers wanted to see if there was a link between alcohol and drugs for liver health. according to dr Terence Bukong, one of the study’s researchers: “The main aim of our study was to assess the effects of cannabis use and the development of alcohol-related liver disease,” he tells Healthline. “Given that no previous clinical trials had examined the effects of cannabis use and the development of progressive stages of alcoholic liver disease in humans, we thought this was an important research area that urgently needed to be explored,” he says.

Meanwhile, a study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discovered a way to treat liver cancer patients with chemotherapy directly into the affected cells while leaving the healthy cells intact. The method uses CBD along with a low dose of doxorubicin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy.

“Most cancer treatments are not specific enough, which means they target healthy cells along with the malignant ones they’re trying to get rid of,” says Prof. Alexander Binshtok of the Hebrew University School of Medicine and the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences Head of Pain Plasticity Research. “This leads to many of the serious side effects associated with chemotherapy. Eliminating cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone is an important step to alleviate the suffering of patients,” he adds.

Doxorubicin works on the cancer cells, although it also has negative side effects on liver and heart cells, which can even lead to heart failure when used to treat liver cancer, Binshtok told the Jerusalem Post.

Another 2020 study shared similar findings – that cannabis users were generally less likely to develop cancer than non-users.

A meta-review conducted by Chair and Professor of Biology at Indiana University South Bend, Dr. Thomas M. Clark, included 34 different research studies on marijuana and cancer. Using statistical analysis, he found that cannabis users are generally healthier and have a lower risk of developing cancer.

“The effects of cannabis use on cancer risk are of significant interest,” Clark said. “Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and around the world. In the United States alone, more than 1.7 million diagnoses and 607,000 deaths are predicted from cancer in 2019. And cancer deaths were responsible for $94.4 billion in lost revenue in 2015,” he says.

The statistical analysis considered all types of cancer and finally concluded that cannabis use can actually reduce the risk of cancer by 10%. “A reduced risk of cancer in cannabis users should come as no surprise, since cannabis and cannabinoids reduce obesity, inhibit chronic inflammation, lower fasting insulin levels and insulin sensitivity, and have direct antitumor effects,” writes Clark.

Conclusion

Cannabis is simply far more potent than pharmaceutical drugs because the compounds in the plant bind to our very own endocannabinoid system to enable holistic healing. Using cannabis as part of a healthy lifestyle not only helps reduce stress and anxiety or help us sleep better, it also has long-term health benefits. Provided you also have a balanced lifestyle, exercise regularly, eat well and avoid stress, the studies we have so far suggest that incorporating cannabis into your daily routine can help ward off deadly diseases like cancer.

LIVER DISEASE AND WEEDS, READ MORE…

CIRRHosis AND CANNABIS, WHAT WE KNOW NOW!