health
September 2, 2023 | 4:32 PM
Alarming new study finds marijuana users have higher levels of cadmium and lead in blood and urine than abstainers found.
Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health analyzed data from a group of more than 7,200 adults and found that 358 people who reported using marijuana in the past 30 days were less likely than those who said they had abstained from marijuana. They found that blood lead levels were 27% higher. Marijuana and tobacco.
The authors found that marijuana users had 22% higher blood cadmium levels and 18% higher urinary cadmium levels, as well as 21% higher urinary lead levels compared to people who did not use marijuana or tobacco. % was found to be high.
Researchers studied data from blood and urine samples collected from 2008 to 2015 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.
They divided 7,254 participants into five categories: non-marijuana/non-tobacco use, marijuana-only use, tobacco-only use, and combined marijuana and tobacco use. They then measured his five different metals in their blood and 16 different metals in their urine.
“We hypothesized that people who use marijuana would have higher levels of metal biomarkers than non-users because the cannabis plant is a known metal scavenger,” said study author and postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. said Katrin McGraw.
“Our results therefore indicate that marijuana is a source of exposure to cadmium and lead,” she added.
There is no safe Lead exposure, according to the World Health Organization. Even low levels of exposure can affect children’s brain development and cause behavioral and learning problems. For adults, lead exposure can lead to an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and kidney damage.
Cadmium is classified as a carcinogen by the WHO. exposureEven low levels can cause kidney disease and weak bones over time through air, water, or cigarette smoke.
“For both cadmium and lead, these metals are likely to remain in the body for years after exposure has ended,” said study author Tiffany Sanchez, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University. told NBC News.
The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Environment Health Perspectives.
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