Harry Redknapp
Bluelighter
An article I found in the news on pot....may be of interest to tokers.....
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regular marijuana smokers consume up to 40 percent more calories than non-users -- mostly through alcohol, salty snacks and cheese -- and are more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes.
But they are also no more likely to be overweight than non-users, researchers found.
The study examined the dietary and nutritional habits of about 11,000 marijuana users and non-users between the ages of 20 and 59, and appears in the journal Public Health Nutrition. The data came from a survey done by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention between 1988 and 1994.
"We know little about the long-term effects of marijuana on the human body and other health behaviours associated with it," said Ellen Smit, assistant professor of social and preventive medicine at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and lead author of the study.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. About one-third of Americans over the age of 12 have reported smoking marijuana at some time in their lives, and 8 percent currently use the drug.
MORE CHIPS, BEER, CIGARETTES BUT LITTLE WEIGHT GAIN
The study found that regular marijuana users consumed 24 to 40 percent more calories than non-users. Marijuana users consumed more beer, liquor, soda, pork, cheese and salted snacks such as potato chips, and less diet soda and fruit than non-users, the study found.
The study found that 70 percent of the most frequent users of marijuana also smoked tobacco cigarettes, which is nearly three times the rate of non-users.
Users also had lower levels of helpful antioxidants in their blood stream, but most vitamin and mineral levels were normal, the study found.
The "munchies," the snacking phenomenon associated with marijuana use, may have serious long-term consequences for health, according to the study.
"Sparking an appetite would be good -- if it was sparking the right kind of appetite. But we think alcohol accounts for the increased calories," she said. Alcohol accounts for 6 percent of the total caloric intake of marijuana users, but only 3 percent with non-users, she said.
"That may not seem like a huge difference, but it all adds up," she said.
Despite the increase in calories, Smit found that the body mass indexes, or BMI, of marijuana users were no higher than non-users as would have been expected. BMI measurements take into account height and weight to gauge total body fat in adults.
"That is the surprising finding. You would expect their BMIs to be higher," Smit said.
One possible explanation is that smoking marijuana increases metabolic rate, Smit said. But more research is needed to determine marijuana's impact on metabolism, she said.
The findings contradict other controlled laboratory studies that have shown smoking marijuana increases body weight, along with appetite and food intake, said Dr. Herbert Kleber, professor of psychiatry and director of the Division on Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York.
"It increases appetite in patients with AIDS," Kleber said. "If it does that, but it doesn't increase weight, then it doesn't help those patients very much."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regular marijuana smokers consume up to 40 percent more calories than non-users -- mostly through alcohol, salty snacks and cheese -- and are more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes.
But they are also no more likely to be overweight than non-users, researchers found.
The study examined the dietary and nutritional habits of about 11,000 marijuana users and non-users between the ages of 20 and 59, and appears in the journal Public Health Nutrition. The data came from a survey done by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention between 1988 and 1994.
"We know little about the long-term effects of marijuana on the human body and other health behaviours associated with it," said Ellen Smit, assistant professor of social and preventive medicine at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and lead author of the study.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. About one-third of Americans over the age of 12 have reported smoking marijuana at some time in their lives, and 8 percent currently use the drug.
MORE CHIPS, BEER, CIGARETTES BUT LITTLE WEIGHT GAIN
The study found that regular marijuana users consumed 24 to 40 percent more calories than non-users. Marijuana users consumed more beer, liquor, soda, pork, cheese and salted snacks such as potato chips, and less diet soda and fruit than non-users, the study found.
The study found that 70 percent of the most frequent users of marijuana also smoked tobacco cigarettes, which is nearly three times the rate of non-users.
Users also had lower levels of helpful antioxidants in their blood stream, but most vitamin and mineral levels were normal, the study found.
The "munchies," the snacking phenomenon associated with marijuana use, may have serious long-term consequences for health, according to the study.
"Sparking an appetite would be good -- if it was sparking the right kind of appetite. But we think alcohol accounts for the increased calories," she said. Alcohol accounts for 6 percent of the total caloric intake of marijuana users, but only 3 percent with non-users, she said.
"That may not seem like a huge difference, but it all adds up," she said.
Despite the increase in calories, Smit found that the body mass indexes, or BMI, of marijuana users were no higher than non-users as would have been expected. BMI measurements take into account height and weight to gauge total body fat in adults.
"That is the surprising finding. You would expect their BMIs to be higher," Smit said.
One possible explanation is that smoking marijuana increases metabolic rate, Smit said. But more research is needed to determine marijuana's impact on metabolism, she said.
The findings contradict other controlled laboratory studies that have shown smoking marijuana increases body weight, along with appetite and food intake, said Dr. Herbert Kleber, professor of psychiatry and director of the Division on Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York.
"It increases appetite in patients with AIDS," Kleber said. "If it does that, but it doesn't increase weight, then it doesn't help those patients very much."
