"It is unclear how marijuana use could place an individual at increased risk for prediabetes yet not diabetes"
Marijuana users are more likely to have prediabetes — the state of poor
blood sugar control that can progress to Type-2 diabetes — than those
who have never used the drug, new research has found.
The findings suggest that marijuana use may adversely affect a person’s
metabolic health in the long term. “Marijuana use was associated with
the development and prevalence of prediabetes,” said the study led by
Mike Bancks from University of Minnesota School of Public Health in
Minneapolis, US.
To determine marijuana use and presence of prediabetes and diabetes, the
researchers used data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in
Young Adults (CARDIA) study that began in 1985-1986 with over 5,000
individuals aged 18-30 years.
The participants are now in their 30th year of observation. The
percentage of individuals who self-reported current use of marijuana
declined over follow-up, from 28 percent in 1985-1986 to 12 percent in
2010-2011.
After adjustment for behavioural/lifestyle and physiological
characteristics, there was a 65 percent increased odds of currently
having prediabetes in individuals who reported current use of marijuana
than those who reported never using marijuana.
“It is unclear how marijuana use could place an individual at increased
risk for prediabetes yet not diabetes,” the authors said. But they
suggest that it could be because individuals excluded from the study
generally had higher levels of marijuana use and greater potential for
development of diabetes. The research was published in the journal Diabetologia.
