Is Cannabis Putting Your Bones At Risk?
Research from the University of Edinburgh says… maybe
When discussing the negative effects of marijuana use, the two most common areas are mental health and lung health, for fairly obvious reasons. Therefore, it may seem strange to think that smoking pot could effect your bones. But in recent years, research from animal studies has shown a direct role of cannabinoid receptors on bone development and maintenance. Driven by these findings, doctors in Scotland undertook a study in humans to see if they could find a link between smoking pot and bone density, a common marker of bone health. Their findings, published in the American Journal of Medicine, are the subject of today’s research breakdown (those interested can find the original article here).
What Did They Do?
First off, let’s talk about how this study was done. It falls under the category of Observational research, which, as the name suggests, means that the doctors made a bunch of observations about their study subjects, and then tried to find meaningful connections in the data. This type of research isn’t meant to claim A causes B. Instead, it says A is connected to B. In this case, A is smoking pot and B is weaker bones.
