(MedicalNewsToday) The research team - led by Prof. Stuart Ralston of the Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom - analyzed the data of 284 adults who attended primary care centers in the U.K. between 2011-2013. Of these adults, 170 used marijuana regularly for recreational purposes, while 114 adults were cigarette smokers who did not use marijuana. For the study, the researchers classed heavy marijuana use as smoking the drug more than 5,000 times over a lifetime. However, on average, heavy users in the study had smoked marijuana more than 47,000 times throughout their lifetime, while moderate users had smoked it around 1,000 times. Using an X-ray method known as dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), the researchers measured participants' bone mineral density. Compared with non-users, the researchers found heavy marijuana users had a amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(1630851-8/abstract text: 5 percent lower bone density), which the team says may raise the risk of bone-related health problems.
"We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function, but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis. Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users, and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosisand fractures later in life." Prof. Stuart Ralston
On further investigation, the researchers found that heavy marijuana users had a lower body weight and body mass index (BMI) than non-users - factors that are associated with bone thinning. This finding, they say, might explain the observed reduction in bone density with heavy marijuana use, though they stressthat more research is required to understand this association.
