Staying Fit
Marijuana may be legal in 18 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam, but that doesn’t mean frequent use is healthy. New research led by Stanford Medicine scientists found smoking pot more than once a month can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack in middle age.
What’s more, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the component of the drug that gets you high, can cause inflammation in the cells that line blood vessels. It’s also blamed for atherosclerosis, or the buildup of fats in the artery walls of lab mice. The good news for people using marijuana to stimulate appetite, control nausea or dull pain: Researchers discovered genistein, a molecule that occurs naturally in soy and fava beans, can prevent the inflammation and atherosclerosis from occurring without taking away the feelings of being high.
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“As more states legalize the recreational use of marijuana, users need to be aware that it could have cardiovascular side effects,” Joseph Wu, M.D., professor of cardiovascular medicine and radiology and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, says in a press release describing the research. “But genistein works quite well to mitigate marijuana-induced damage of the endothelial vessels without blocking the effects marijuana has on the central nervous system, and it could be a way for medical marijuana users to protect themselves from a cardiovascular standpoint.”
