Cannabis smokers 'at risk of brittle bone disease' (Independent)

[ovidsen]

by John von Radowitz

23 May 2005

Excessive use of cannabis may lead to brittle bones, new research suggests.

Scientists have found that molecules on the surface of bone cells are targeted by cannabis chemicals.

They discovered that drugs which block these cannabinoid receptors may prevent bone loss. But the flip-side to the research is that smoking cannabis is likely to promote osteoporosis.

Professor Stuart Ralston, who led the research at the University of Aberdeen, said: "We hadn't studied cannabis users, but the work we've done would suggest that if you use a lot of cannabis it could stimulate bone-absorbing cells, and that would be bad."


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=640678

Ummmmm... okay. What if I drink lots and lots of milk??

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. How much

is a lot?

[MuseRider]

4. LOL

Funny. :hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. I told you I have been a band groupie

for years. They made me do it. :)

[LostinVA]

2. That's the stupidest thing I've ever... OWWW! My finger just broke

while I was typing this. Damn.... maybe it's true....

[pokercat999]

5. I'm only gonna smoke till my fingernails crack. nt

[amazona]

3. the calcium/vitamin D in milk isn't absorbed

Didn't we just hash that out in that other thread? :-)

If you are at risk for osteoporosis/bone loss, do not rely on dairy, get a few minutes of sunlight on non-sunscreened skin each day the sun is shining. Vitamin D taken by mouth doesn't seem to circulate in the bloodstream of older adults. You gotta get that sunlight. If you are determined to avoid the sun at all costs or must for health reasons, then be sure to consume any calcium/vitamin D as whole milk, not skim. If you take the calcium/vitamin D with fat there is at least some tiny chance that it can be used in the body (D is a fat soluble vitamin) -- if you take it as nonfat/skim, there's no chance it's going to do anything except get excreted.

Balance is the key. If you are blind (glaucoma) or in chronic pain or can't survive your chemo because you can't stop vomiting and get your appetite back, then it ain't gonna matter that you get osteoporosis when you're 85. All medicines and herbs have side effects. All.

Alcohol is also a risk factor in developing osteoporosis and do you see anyone here giving up their merlot? Don't think so.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. So if I am at risk for osteoporosis

I should get plenty of sun?

I was thinking I should start using sunscreen because I swim all summer.

[amazona]

12. not "plenty" -- 20 minutes a day

Some sources say it can be 5 minutes a day without the sunscreen but I was told 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Thanks

I think I can handle that.

This is great news. Pool time is now therapy. :woohoo:

[0007]

6. I've smoke for over fifty years and I just had a bone density test

and was told I was in good shape. I'll be 72 in October.

[Jacobin]

8. And you'll go blind and hair will grow on the palms of your hands

Not to mention, if you're a guy, your balls will fall off.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Can you type that with a larger font?

I am having trouble seeing it. And the hair on my hands is really getting bad these days. LOL

[Blue_Tires]

16. lol...and you'll grow a set of man-tits

reefer madness, indeed!

[norml]

9. "We hadn't studied cannabis users"? "may prevent bone loss"?

Wake me when they actually do studies of cannabis users, and have results to present. It's funny that no one has ever noticed any higher rate of bone loss in cannabis users before, and as I look around I see no evidence for such cannabis induced bone loss now.

[chlamor]

14. Cannabis Induced Bone Loss

Good name for a band.

:toast:

[ovidsen]

15. It may be a coincidence, then again,

maybe not. Speaking from the anecdotal perspective, I've puffed lots of pot in my time (daily for decades, then stopped 10 years ago, but thats irrelevant), and my bones are just fine.

It's food for thought. And speaking of food, I think I'm having a munchies flashback... :crazy:

[benburch]

17. And where has there ever been any clinical evidence of this effect?

I call bullshit.

I know a lot of old (they started in the 60s) stoners, and not one of them seems to have any bone problems.

[ovidsen]

18. I'm skeptical too

So maybe a little more research is in order.

I'll volunteer! Now where did I put my hookah?

[struggle4progress]

19. this like those is reports saying mary jane users like not so ..

.. understood easily is untrue i mean if lots smoking mojo which how you know obvious :smoke: :hippie: :party:

[Zhade]

20. Wow. It's disappointing to see such shoddy reporting in the Independent.

This is patent bullshit - they didn't even examine cannabis users? :wtf:

[RamblingRose]

21. Guess that would explain my husband's severe wrist fracture. He slipped

and fell on his wrist and busted the joint, requiring 3 hours of surgery, a steel plate & 2 pins.

[OneBlueSky]

22. now, let's guess . . . who might have funded that study? . . . n/t

.

[Cassius23]

23. And who can forget..

going incurably insane and instantly knowing how to play the piano like a master, even with a girl mauling you in the process.

Ahh, I love me some reefer madness.

[RaulGroom]

24. Imagine the Reaction

If such a thing were printed about a medicine manufactured by a corporation.

"Scientists have found that bone in the body may absorb a certain chemical in Viagra, which may in turn promote osteoperosis. Of course, the scientists didn't actually study any Viagra users to determine if there is such an effect. But it's definitely possible."

Too bad pot doesn't have a $200 million PR budget like Pfizer.