Study: Pot consumption linked to lower risk of liver disease

Alcohol consumption is a known cause of liver damage, but the opposite may be true with marijuana.

That’s according to a new study published in PLOS One late last month.

After examining a “nationally representative” sample of Americans, the researchers said they found that “current marijuana use is inversely associated with steatosis,” a condition caused by excess fat in the liver.

“The pathophysiology is unclear and requires further investigation. No significant association has been found between marijuana use and liver fibrosis, regardless of past or current use,” they wrote.

The study, conducted by a group of Chinese researchers, “aimed to assess the association between marijuana use and liver steatosis and fibrosis in the general US population using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).”

“This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2017-2018 NHANES cycle. “The target group included adults in the NHANES database with reliable vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) results,” the study authors write in their explanation of the methods. “The median values ​​of the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and the liver stiffness measurement (LSM) were used to assess liver steatosis and fibrosis, respectively. After controlling for relevant confounders, logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between marijuana use and hepatic steatosis and fibrosis.”

The researchers analyzed a pool of 2,622 participants.

“The proportions of never marijuana users, former users, and current users were 45.9%, 35.0%, and 19.1%, respectively. Compared to never-marijuana users, past and current users had a lower prevalence of hepatic steatosis (P=0.184 and P=0.048, respectively),” they wrote. “In the alcohol-adjusted model, current marijuana use was an independent predictor of a low prevalence of hepatic steatosis in non-heavy drinkers. The association between marijuana use and liver fibrosis was not significant in univariate and multivariate regression.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic, steatosis, also known as “fatty liver disease,” affects “one in three adults and one in ten children in the United States.”

“There is no drug specifically for fatty liver disease. Instead, doctors focus on helping you manage the factors that contribute to the condition. They also recommend making lifestyle changes that can significantly improve your health,” says the Cleveland Clinic.

Despite the fascinating results of the study, the Chinese researchers urge caution.

“Nevertheless, the present study has several limitations. First, this was an observational study; No causal conclusions can be drawn and correlations should be interpreted as associations. Second, marijuana use was self-reported, and the skewness of the distribution of the number of marijuana users can lead to misclassification, limiting the power of our secondary analysis with days of cannabis use,” they wrote.

“Such inaccurate reports can lead to a bias toward the null hypothesis for the outcome. Third, physical activity and diet were not included in the analyses. In addition, due to the limitations of the NHANES database, we could not rule out biliary cirrhosis and primary liver diseases such as Wilson’s disease and use of steatogenic drugs. In addition, we could not assess the type of marijuana and the dose-response correlation between marijuana use and the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis.”

They added, “In summary, we found that current marijuana use is inversely associated with hepatic steatosis. Further studies are needed to longitudinally confirm these findings, and research into marijuana compounds and their biological effects holds promise for the treatment and prevention of fatty liver disease.”