The Mystery of the Munchies |
A common experience associated with marijuana use is an increased appetite.
Studies find that cannabis users often have lower body mass index and lower obesity rates.
The opening of recreational marijuana dispensaries is associated with decreases in obesity rates.
This ‘pseudo-lean’ state might in fact be due to a dysfunction in how adipose tissues metabolize calories.
Currently, 47 states and the District of Colombia allow marijuana for medical use, recreational use, or both to varying degrees. Medical research, including many preclinical studies from my laboratory, largely concludes that low-dose, daily marijuana provides extensive medicinal benefits. The most common reason someone uses a cannabis product is for relief for chronic and temporary pain or relief from anxiety. A common experience associated with medical or recreational use is an increase in appetite, especially for high caloric foods containing fat, salt and sugar. This proclivity, called the “munchies,” has been documented for many centuries. Despite a well-established relationship between marijuana use and increased appetite, the impact that legalizing marijuana may have on obesity rates remains an open and under-investigated question.
Marijuana use is popular. Over 130 million Americans say that they have tried........