By Joseph Misulonas – Everyone knows one of the most common side effects from smoking marijuana is getting the “munchies.” So you’d probably assume that most people who use cannabis would be less healthy from eating Doritos after smoking. But according to science, the opposite may be true.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska studied thousands of adults to determine the relationship between marijuana use and health. They found both regular cannabis users and non-cannabis users to collect their data. They found that while marijuana users consumed an average of 600 more calories per day than non-marijuana users, they did not have a higher body mass index (BMI). In fact, they actually showed less warning signs of obesity and diabetes. When controlling for other factors such as age, gender and tobacco use, the regular marijuana users had smaller waist circumferences, better regulated insulin levels, and higher levels of good cholesterol. Even people who were only occasional marijuana users showed better health results than people who never used marijuana.
Scientists weren’t 100 percent sure why regular marijuana users showed such better results. Some speculated that it could be due to some of the medical benefits of marijuana, such as its anti-inflammatory effects, neuroprotective effects and improved metabolism as possible explanations.
