Consume alcohol It is a known cause of liver damage, but the opposite may apply to smoking pot.
This is the conclusion of the new research Posted late last month in Plus one.
After examining a “nationally representative” sample of Americans, the researchers said they found that “current marijuana use is inversely associated with steatosis,” or the condition that arises from excess fat in the liver.
The pathophysiology is unclear and needs further study. No significant association has been demonstrated between marijuana use and cirrhosis, regardless of past or current use, they wrote.
The study, conducted by a group of Chinese researchers, “aimed to evaluate the association between marijuana use and liver degeneration and fibrosis in the general population of the United States using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).”
“This cross-sectional study was performed with data from the 2017-2018 cycle of NHANES. The target population consisted of adults in the NHANES database with findings of vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE),” the study authors wrote in their explanation of methods. “Mean values of controlled attenuation coefficient (CAP) and liver stiffness measure (LSM) were used to assess steatosis and cirrhosis, respectively. After adjusting for relevant confounding factors, logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between marijuana use, steatosis, and cirrhosis.
The researchers analyzed a group of 2,622 participants.
The percentages of absolute marijuana users, former users, and current users were 45.9%, 35.0%, and 19.1%, respectively. Compared with never marijuana users, former and current users had a lower prevalence of liver steatosis (P = 0.184 and P = 0.048, respectively), they wrote. “In the modified model for alcohol use, current marijuana use was an independent predictor of a low prevalence of liver steatosis in non-heavy drinkers. The association between marijuana use and cirrhosis was not significant in the univariate and multivariate regression.”
Also known as “fatty liver disease,” “steatosis affects one in three adults and one in 10 children in the United States.” According to the Cleveland Clinic.
There is no specific medication for fatty liver disease. Instead, doctors focus on helping you manage the factors that contribute to the condition. They also recommend making lifestyle changes that can significantly improve your health,” says the Cleveland Clinic.
Despite the study’s exciting results, the Chinese researchers urged caution.
However, the current study has several limitations. First, this was an observational study. No causal inference can be made, and associations must be interpreted as correlations. Second, marijuana use was self-reported, and the distribution of the number of use could be skewed. Marijuana is subject to misclassification, which limits the power of our secondary analysis with days of cannabis use,” they wrote.
Such inaccurate reporting may introduce a bias towards the null hypothesis of the outcome. Third, physical activity and diet were not included in the analyses. Furthermore, due to the limitations of the NHANES database, we could not exclude biliary cirrhosis and primary liver diseases such as Wilson’s disease and use of Also, we were unable to evaluate the marijuana type and dose-response relationship between marijuana use and the prevalence of steatosis and cirrhosis.”
They added, “In conclusion, we found that current marijuana use is inversely associated with fatty liver degeneration. More studies are needed to confirm these findings longitudinally, and investigations into marijuana’s compounds and biological effects are promising for the treatment and prevention of fatty liver disease.”
