Munchies, smunchies: Cannabis users weigh less than non-users

Stoner stereotypes that depict cannabis users as constantly consuming an endless stream of junk food would suggest that users might pack on an extra pound or two in the quest to quell the munchies. Surprisingly, new research suggests the opposite is true.

A recent study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology suggests that cannabis-consuming adults have a tendency to weigh less than their non-partaking peers.

University of Michigan researchers found that both chronic consumers and those who were new to the drug were less likely to be overweight and had a “lower prevalence of obesity.”

Researchers studied data collected from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions and listed the body mass index (BMI) of 33,000 adult participants.

“Over a three-year period, all participants showed a weight increase, but interestingly, those who used marijuana had less of an increase compared to those that never used,” Omayma Alshaarawy, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of family medicine at Michigan State University, said in a press release.  “Our study builds on mounting evidence that this opposite effect occurs. We found that users, even those who just started, were more likely to be at a normal, healthier weight and stay at that weight.”

Researchers studied data collected from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions and listed the body mass index (BMI) of 33,000 adult participants.

The average difference between users and non-users was about two pounds. “An average 2-pound difference doesn’t seem like much, but we found it in more than 30,000 people with all different kinds of behaviors and still got this result,” said Dr. Alshaarawy. “We found that users, even those who just started, were more likely to be at a normal, healthier weight and stay at that weight,” she explained. “Only 15% of persistent users were considered obese compared to 20% of non-users.”

More research is needed to figure out the reason for the discrepancy between the two groups, although Dr. Alshaarawy hypothesizes that it could be behavioral “like someone becoming more conscious of their food intake as they worry about the munchies after cannabis use and gaining weight.”

Alternately, it “could be the cannabis use itself, which can modify how certain cells, or receptors, respond in the body and can ultimately affect weight gain,” she says.

But if you were hoping to start smoking mad blunts in the name of losing a few pounds, you might want to reconsider. “People shouldn’t consider it as a way to maintain or even lose weight,” warns Dr. Alshaarawy.

For now, you’ll have to stick to diet and exercise until science can unlock the mystery of whether cannabis can somehow block the calorie absorption of Funions.