Smoking marijuana and losing weight? Here’s the science

Spring is here and summer is just around the corner. As we scroll Instagram and TicTok, we’re already seeing beautiful bodies on a boat, in a pool, or on the beach. While the concept of sexy bodies does play a role (think Lizzo and Peter Davidson), most Americans wear something extra that makes baring the body uncomfortable. Good NewsNow the good news if you are a cannabis user: according to a study published in the American Journal of Medicine, marijuana users are less likely than non-users to develop metabolic syndrome, which is a significant risk factor for obesity II diabetes and heart disease.

This study, conducted by scientists at the University of Miami in Florida, examined the connection between cannabis use and the individual components of metabolic syndrome, such as high blood pressure, increased abdominal fat, elevated blood sugar and unhealthy cholesterol levels.

Nearly 8,500 people aged 20 to 59 provided survey data for the study. Participants were divided into three categories – current marijuana users, past users, and those who had never smoked the herb. While metabolic syndrome affects 22 percent of people US adult population, less than 14 percent of current cannabis-using adults in this study had metabolic syndrome.

Young adults are 54 percent less likely to have metabolic syndrome than non-users. Previous marijuana use is associated with a lower likelihood of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged adults. And seniors who are treated with cannabis tend to be leaner and less insulin resistant than seniors who just say no.

The Munchies receptor

The results of the study, titled “Metabolic Syndrome Among Marijuana Users in the United States,” may seem counterintuitive given marijuana’s notorious appetite-stimulating effects, jokingly known as “munchies.” Under the influence of marijuana, flavors seem to jump right out of the food. This is because tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) activated CB1 Cannabinoid receptors in the brain that stimulate appetite and increase the sense of smell.

The munchies are a scientifically proven phenomenon. THC is a CB1 “Agonist” that turns on the appetite receptor and causes it to signal. An “antagonist” blocks the receptor and prevents it from sending signals. Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), a small but medicinally important part of the cannabis plant, is neutral CB1 receptor antagonist.

Scientists have also synthesized “inverse agonists” that can activate a cannabinoid receptor and cause it to signal in the opposite way it naturally works. A CB1 inverse agonist suppresses appetite and reduces food intake by binding to CB1 receptors while THC increases appetite and food intake by binding to CB1.

Given what we know about cravings, it would be reasonable to assume that increased consumption of marijuana will lead to higher calorie expenditure with resulting adverse metabolic outcomes, including obesity. However, the results of this study and other reports indicate that this is not the case. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case.

These results not only underscore the potential health benefits of herbal cannabis, but also underscore the discrepancy between human research linking marijuana use to lower obesity rates compared to preclinical studies using synthetic isolates, in which CB1 Antagonism (blocks the feeding receptor) and CB1 Inverse agonism (flipping the anti-munchies switch) has been shown to prevent obesity.

How is it possible that marijuana use that activates CB1has been implicated in preventing obesity in humans while causing obesity to be blocked or reversed CB1 Receptor via a synthetic single molecule compound results in weight loss in animal models and human trials? What can explain this apparent contradiction? It could have something to do with the complementary but opposite functions of two different sets of cannabinoid receptors.

CB2 receptor activation

Australian scientists recently investigated the role of the cannabinoid CB2 Receptor “in the modulation of energy homeostasis and obesity-associated metabolic pathologies”. The CB2 Receptors are concentrated in the peripheral nervous system, immune cells, and metabolically active tissue. That’s what the Australian researchers found out CB2 receptor activation by JWH-015, a “selective CB2 Receptor agonist” reduces food intake in mice and prevents body fat build-up.

THCa non-selective plant-derived agonist binds to both the CB1 receptor and the CB2 Receptor. The fact that THC and other cannabis components (including those previously mentioned THCV) activate CB2 Receptor signaling may explain why marijuana users are less likely to develop metabolic syndrome than marijuana abstainers. Metabolic syndrome is a generalized, low-grade inflammatory disease and THC-sensitive CB2 Receptor regulates immune function and inflammation.

CB2 Activating receptors — through healthy eating and reducing stress through cannabis — may prove to be a better strategy for preventing and treating metabolic syndrome than French pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis’ misguided attempt to commercialize rimonabant, a synthetic product CB1 inverse agonist as an appetite suppressant. Promoted as a blockbuster diet drug in 2006, rimonabant was soon recalled in Europe for serious side effects, including neurological deficits, depression and suicide. The anti-munchies pill was never approved for sale in the United States.

That’s a long way of saying, maybe you’ve got less high-calorie beer or overly sugary cocktails for a vape or oil when you want to be beach-ready.