Can Smoking Cannabis Keep you Thin and Prevent Cancer?

[BioHazard]

An interesting article from www.transfusion.net:
--------------------------------------------
Can Smoking Cannabis Keep you Thin and Prevent Cancer?
Regular cannabis smokers consume up to 40% more calories than non-users, yet have lower body-mass indexes (fatness measures) researchers from the University of Buffalo revealed this week. According to the study, smokers drank more alcohol and ate more cheese and meat, and even ate less fresh fruit. The survey’s author De Ellen Smitt, hypothesized that smoking cannabis can increase a person’s metabolic rate (ie speeding up the rate they burn off calories, so keeping them thin).
In even more surprising news, a prominent New York scientist announced this week that smoking weed doesn’t appear to cause lung cancer or emphysema. Dr P Morgan from the City University of New York Medical school told a Canadian Senate committee examining marijuana policies, that while cannabis smokers tend to have more coughs and colds than non cannabis users, he expects their health to be generally much the same as non smokers. “
We are 30 to 40 years into this marijuana epidemic and have still not seen evidence of pulmonary cancer in marijuana smokers,” he told Canadian media organisation Canoe. Cannabis smokers were also “unlikely to succumb to emphysema, a condition frequent among cigarette smokers.”

 

[Airwalk]

MMmmmmmmmm Cannabis. Now even healthier.

 

[BigTrancer]

I think 'prevent' is an inappropriate term to use. Sure, depending upon what study you read marijuana use may or may not appear to be linked with carcinogenesis, but I don't believe any medical or scientific professional would, in their right mind, say that marijuana use can 'prevent' cancer.
BigTrancer

------------------
Load universe into cannon. Aim at brain. Shoot.

 

[entropope]

I personally believe that any positive effects of marijuana are negated by the negative effects of smoking it. It has properties which reduce the symptoms of asthmatics, but smoke a bucket if your asthmatic and you're obviously increasing your chances of having an attack rather than decreasing them. If you seriously want to use pot for medicinal purposes, get some good recipies and cook yourself some cakes etc.

 

[pom^]

from my understanding no one treatment works for all types of cancer.. studies in europe (spain i think) recently have shown that marijuana can help cure some cases of cancer..
studies in american universities have known about it since the 70's.. but since their government is tough on anti drugs they went as far as to offer money to destroy the records of the trials..

 

[Airwalk]

BigTrancer, On this one BioHazard is the expert in a manner of speaking. He is actually a research scientist working on a cure for cancer, so if he believes it there might just be something in it. That's my hope anyway haha!
Bio give me a call as this thread has given me an idea for tonight.
------------------
"Have you ever danced with teh devil in the pale moon light?"
"Well I have actually and it turns out that the devil is a real top bloke."

 

[Acid_Reign]

I remember that study in spain, or a study in spain.
They found that for certain types of brain tumors smoking marijuana reduced there size more so that radiation treatment or kimo therapy.
Can Smoking Cannabis Keep you Thin and Prevent cancer? Well, I'm thin, i don't have cancer and i smoke cannabis. Draw your own conclusions

------------------
You have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are.
If you want to get anywhere you'll have to run much faster.
--Lewis Carroll

 

[BigTrancer]

Any hard evidence (recent referreed journal papers preferably) you can show me on the subject would be greatly appreciated. I would love to learn more about the long term health effects of cannabis usage in humans.
BigTrancer

------------------
Load universe into cannon. Aim at brain. Shoot.

 

[Trouble]

I think everybody here is missing the important part of this discussion. Cancer schmancer. I want to know if I can use marijunana as a dietary aid!

on same topic but a little more seriously, I thought toking decreased your metabolic rate, not increased it??? how else can I explain the fact that I only used to smoke up once every couple of weeks, and since I started smoking almost every night I've put on 5 kilos? nothing to do with me being a lazy slob (I still go to the gym just as often) or getting old (yeah well, that one I have to admit...)

 

[Fry-d-]

Tokes from the bong INCREASES your metabolism, reason why regular bong smokers who do nothing but suck back billies and sit arround eating junk food arnt fat slobs. I myself can eat 5 big meals a day and then be still hungry for more when I'm smoking weed yet I wont put on any weight. Then I stop smoking metabolism slows down and I can start putting on weight.
You can even feeel yoour heart start to race sometimes when ur pulling buckets. Just because your head feels like your going in reverse doesnt mean the rest of your body isnt doing the 100m sprint.
But this can also be taken to the extreme as it has been for one of my friends. A regular heavy pot user since the age of 11/12 caused his growth to be stunted quite severely. I put this down to the increased metabolism causing not enought vitamins and minerals being left in his body for normal growth, someone correct me if im wrong here. But it is most definately weed causing this growth problem He's now nineteen and still hasnt had a growth spurt, he basically hasnt been thro puberty yet, only needs to shave once every six months. But thats from very heavy weed use, with basically not a day straight in 7 or 8 years
[This message has been edited by Fry-d- (edited 22 June 2001).]

 

[BigTrancer]

I'd still love to see any evidence of these properties of marijuana. The more facts we can produce, with less unsupported speculation, the more education we can provide.
Without giving evidence, we can be seen as being "just as bad" as the media we so fondly deride.
BigTrancer

 

[Blindside]

Hi guys.
Give me about an hour, and I'll source as many articles on weed as I can.
The problem with these articles though is finding out who funded the research. I'll try my best to weed out (pardon the pun) US government funded studies, cos they're usually tainted and biased.
BRB

 

[Blindside]

General;
Cannabis is used in cancer and HIV therapy as an antiemetic (anti-nausea) and appetite stimulant.
IT IS NOT USED as a treatment for the diseases, simply as an adjunct for treating symptoms and making side-effects of treatment more bearable.
Cancer therapies are nasty, as are the antivirals used in late-stage HIV treatment. Cannabis use (accepted in most hospitals in Australia) helps patients deal with the terrible side effects arising from their treatments.
Articles;
1. Drug Alcohol Depend 2000 Feb 1;58(1-2):3-7 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
"An approach to the medical marijuana controversy."
Hollister LE.
The use of smoked marijuana as a therapeutic agent is presently a matter of considerable debate in the United States. Many people suffering from a variety of disorders maintain that it is necessary for their adequate treatment. Yet, the evidence to support claims is insufficient for FDA approval. An interim solution is proposed which would allow patients referred by their physicians to participate in a 6-month program of legal marijuana availability, similar to the 'compassionate IND' program of a number of years ago. A technique similar to that used for post-marketing surveillance is proposed for obtaining quantitative data for a limited number of potential indications. These are: (1) nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy or other causes, (2) weight loss associated with debilitating illnesses, (3) spasticity secondary to neurological diseases, and (4) chronic pain syndromes
2. Forsch Komplementarmed 1999 Oct;6 Suppl 3:21-2 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
"Cancer cachexia and cannabinoids."
Gorter RW.
Europaisches Institut fur onkologische und immunologische Forschung, Berlin, Germany.
Anorexia and cachexia are diagnosed in more than two-thirds of all cancer patients with advanced disease, and are independent risk factors for morbidity and mortality. Anorexia, nausea and vomiting often are described as more significant inhibiting factors for quality of life of cancer patients than even intense pain. In 1986, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main effective constituent of cannabis, was licensed as an anti-emetic drug in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. In addition, in clinical studies THC has shown significant stimulation of appetite and increase of body weight in HIV-positive and cancer patients. The appetite-stimulating effect of cannabis itself has also been well documented in many anecdotal cases. There are strong indications that cannabis is better tolerated than THC alone, because cannabis contains several additional cannabinoids, like cannabidiol (CBD), which antagonize the psychotropic actions of THC, but do not inhibit the appetite-stimulating effect. Therefore, we intend to compare the therapeutic effects of whole-plant extracts of cannabis to those of THC (dronabinol) alone in controlled studies.
3. Pharmacology 1982;24(5):303-13 Related Articles, Books
"Effects of cannabinoids given orally and reduced appetite on the male rat reproductive system."
Fujimoto GI, Morrill GA, O'Connell ME, Kostellow AB, Retura G.
Chronic oral treatment of young adult male Fischer rats with delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 1, 5 and 25 mg/kg/day, or crude marihuana extract (CME), 3, 15 and 75 mg/kg/day, suppresses growth of accessory sex organs and body weight gain in a dose-related manner. Animals pair fed with the THC (25 mg/kg) group gained slightly more in body weight than the THC group, but their relative accessory sex organ weights were intermediate between THC and ad libitum-fed control group weights. These latter differences may be due to altered serum androgen levels since these levels 2-6 h after last treatment were 0.15, 0.77 and 3.33 ng/ml for THC, pair-fed and ad libitum-fed groups, respectively. 24 h after the last treatment all groups were within normal levels. Thus, chronic cannabinoid treatment suppresses accessory sex organ weights and serum androgen levels greater than the suppression caused by reduced food intake alone.
Doesn't seem to be any articles on weed use vs. weight. Generally all the studies on weed and weight are tied in to cancer studies.

 

[BioHazard]

"Prevention" is definitely not the right word to use. The statements made by this scientist may have been drawn from the following article:
Control of the cell survival/death decision by cannabinoids.
J Mol Med 2001;78(11):613-25
Guzman M, Sanchez C, Galve-Roperh I.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, School of Biology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain. [email protected]
ABSTRACT:
Cannabinoids, the active components of Cannabis sativa (marijuana), and their derivatives produce a wide spectrum of central and peripheral effects, some of which may have clinical application. The discovery of specific cannabinoid receptors and a family of endogenous ligands of those receptors has attracted much attention to cannabinoids in recent years. One of the most exciting and promising areas of current cannabinoid research is the ability of these compounds to control the cell survival/death decision. Thus cannabinoids may induce proliferation, growth arrest, or apoptosis in a number of cells, including neurons, lymphocytes, and various transformed neural and nonneural cells. The variation in drug effects may depend on experimental factors such as drug concentration, timing of drug delivery, and type of cell examined. Regarding the central nervous system, most of the experimental evidence indicates that cannabinoids may protect neurons from toxic insults such as glutamaergic overstimulation, ischemia and oxidative damage. In contrast, cannabinoids induce apoptosis of glioma cells in culture and regression of malignant gliomas in vivo. Breast and prostate cancer cells are also sensitive to cannabinoid-induced antiproliferation. Regarding the immune system, low doses of cannabinoids may enhance cell proliferation, whereas high doses of cannabinoids usually induce growth arrest or apoptosis. The neuroprotective effect of cannabinoids may have potential clinical relevance for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and ischemia/stroke, whereas their growth-inhibiting action on transformed cells might be useful for the management of malignant brain tumors. Ongoing investigation is in search for cannabinoid-based therapeutic strategies devoid of nondesired psychotropic effects.
----------------------------------------
The current evidence has only been shown in vitro (outside the body, in culture) using cancer cell lines and not on actual tumours. Hence, the findings merely suggest a theory on what could be happening in vivo (in the body).
From a scientific view; if it has not been shown yet by supporting evidence, then it cannot be assumed.
I thought I'd post this because findings of studies like this are rare to come by, especially in a field which evidently shows marijuana to be a causative agent for lung cancer.

 

[babydoc_vic]

I know 3 people who quit smoking (although still smoking cigarettes) who gained at least 10 kilos afterwards. One gut gained about 20. This is despite being twice as active since quitting.

 

[scattercat]

I've never heard that smoking pot helps you lose weight, I have lost weight since i started smoking but I also lost my appitite, eating probably 1 meal a day, which is why I figure I lost weight. But it is true, every pot smoker I know (and i know a few) eats like a horse and is as skinny as a rake.

 

[BigTrancer]

Thankyou BioHazard, that's exactly what I'm after.

Obviously it is important for researchers to confirm in vivo these findings... I'm curious to know whether the experiments used human glioma cells or can the conclusions be readily extended to indicate possible use on human tumours?
The abstract notes that while neurons may be protected by cannabinoids, the proliferation of certain cancer cells may be arrested. Is there any possibility that the growth of other human cells may be slowed by cannabinoids? I guess what I'm really asking here is if cannabinoids were used to treat a cancer in a living person, would this kind of treatment be toxic to a person as a whole, rather than just the tumour?
This sounds like a very interesting field of research... however far removed it may be from smoking grass to keep thin.
BigTrancer