Smoking dope helps to lose weight. Har!

By Monday September 12, 2011

Anybody who’s smoked marijuana knows about “the munchies,” that desire to eat everything within reach. But a study from France has found that, surprisingly, pot smokers are actually less likely than non-smokers to pack on weight.

Using data covering more than 50,000 U.S. adults, researchers headed by Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at the Louis-Mourier Hospital in Colombes, France, found that roughly 14 percent to 17 percent of the people reporting that they smoked pot at least three days per week were obese.

That compared with a 22 to 25 percent obesity rate among people who said they had not used pot in the past 12 months.

“Initially, we thought we made a mistake,” said Le Strat, adding that he and co-author Bernard Le Foll checked the results several times to make sure they were correct. “This is only a preliminary result. It doesn’t mean that marijuana does actually help you lose weight, but perhaps there is a component that does.”

I hope someone lets us all know when they want to run further studies in the United States. There will only be about 150 million volunteers.



24 Comments
  1. McCullough says:
    9/12/2011 at 5:27 pm

    Temporary side effect. The munchies thing disappears after a few years.

    At least that’s what I’ve been told.

  2. msbpodcast says:
    9/12/2011 at 5:33 pm

    Awesum dude, but it figures…

    Sparking up a doobie does cause the munchies, but if its good shit … you’re so wasted that cooking that steak and veggies may require more concentration than a stoner can muster. 🙂

    Of course, if the body is the temple of the soul, you start to resemble the wailing wall with prayer paper stuffed in every crack and no mortar holding your backbone together.

  3. Sister Mary Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection says:
    9/12/2011 at 5:46 pm

    I smoked marijuana once with the Pope. I didn’t feel anything but I ate the shit out of some communion wafers.

  4. Dallas says:
    9/12/2011 at 6:04 pm

    #3 always a treat…

    Well, I’m in san fran thus week for a conference. I must say there is a glaucoma epidemic here based in the aroma on Market Street. Very few overweight people around.

  5. BigBoyBC says:
    9/12/2011 at 6:13 pm

    Really? Where do I sign-up?

  6. EnemyOfTheState says:
    9/12/2011 at 6:14 pm

    Been smoking it since 2006 when I had heart failure. Since then I have put on 7 pounds. Most of that is FN edema I am sure 🙂

  7. The0ne says:
    9/12/2011 at 7:43 pm

    Old news? Umm, sorry my mistake. Very old news.

  8. Faxon says:
    9/12/2011 at 10:24 pm

    This only shows how stupid “studies” are.
    They can’t figure out the two relevant facts.

    Fat people don’t smoke pot.

    People who smoke pot are not generally fat people.

    This is twisted to imply that pot makes you lose weight?

    Bullshit.

  9. Buzz Mega says:
    9/12/2011 at 10:34 pm

    All that mary jane ever did for my appetite was to make me want to scarf down a bunch of diet pills.

  10. sargasso_c says:
    9/12/2011 at 10:49 pm

    Population standard deviation and statistical error could easily account for this outcome, especially over a short term with a small population sample of raw garlic eaters.

  11. sargasso_c says:
    9/12/2011 at 10:51 pm

    … who put VINEGAR on their pancakes!

  12. foobar says:
    9/13/2011 at 2:55 am

    Have you ever really looked at your gut dude? Like, I mean, like, realllllyyyyy looked at your gut? Like, whoa!

  13. What? says:
    9/13/2011 at 3:08 am

    Beyond the reach of these pot-smoking researchers: “Correlation does not imply causation”

  14. bobbo, there's been a pattern established to these things says:
    9/13/2011 at 4:22 am

    #14–What==its one of my nits: correlation DOES IMPLY causation, it just doesn’t prove it. Correleation is CONSISTENT WITH causation which is why it raises the implication.

    People need to recognize the implications and not lazily fall into thinking it is proof. Correlation always comes first before proof and is the best early evidence to establish causation.

    Look for correlations in your life, then establish the confirming tests and relying on the testing results rather than stay hooked on the correlations.

    Yea, verily.

  15. nerdinerdiness says:
    9/13/2011 at 6:03 am

    Oh come on! Dope ain’t weeed. Dope is heroine!

    Weed doesn’t hurt people. People hurt people.

  16. RS says:
    9/13/2011 at 9:10 am

    Don’t they sell Cheetos there?

  17. spsffan says:
    9/13/2011 at 9:20 am

    I will note that, as a lifetime (49 years) observation, really fat people don’t tend to smoke anything. They tend not to do drugs, except alcohol. Heck, they even tend to have rather bland and uninspired diets. Twinkies, corn dogs, processed cheese product, etc.

    Pot smokers tend to be a bit pickier, even if they do sometimes get the munchies. They are, to be sure, more adventurous.

    Oh, and those of you trying to say that the researchers are proclaiming that smoking pot makes you loose weight, the last sentence of the clip says : “It doesn’t mean that marijuana does actually help you lose weight, but perhaps there is a component that does.”

    What part of doesn’t mean and perhaps don’t you understand? Or is your skinny but too stoned to notice?

  18. msbpodcast says:
    9/13/2011 at 10:18 am

    In # 15 bobbo said: Correlation is CONSISTENT WITH causation which is why it raises the implication.

    Holy crap. I actually agree with bobbo.

    Scary…

    (BTW you’d misspelt correlation as Correleation. I corrected it. 🙂

  19. Uncle Patso says:
    9/13/2011 at 12:13 pm

    Look at the article linked to by the article linked to by this story.

    http://reuters.com/article/2011/09/12/us-health-marijuana-idUSTRE78B4CY20110912?

    “The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included two surveys of U.S. adults — one covering 43,000 people, the other about 9,300 respondents. Both had been conducted by branches of the U.S. National Institutes of Health between 2001 and 2009.

    The larger of the surveys found that 14 percent of pot smokers were obese compared to 22 percent who didn’t smoke pot. Similarly, the smaller survey found 17 percent of pot smokers to be obese compared to 25 percent of non-smokers.

    Of all respondents to both surveys, between four percent and seven percent said they smoked pot at least three times a week.”

    Researchers quoted in the article all talked about what molecules in marijuana smoke could be the causative factor, but I think lifestyle issues could easily be a bigger factor than chemistry. Pot smokers tend to be more “hippie-type” than the general population, which goes along with more emphasis on organic and veggie-type foods. Plus the article doesn’t mention any breakdown by age, income or other factors that could correlate with obesity or over-all health.

  20. MikeN says:
    9/13/2011 at 12:43 pm

    #18 nailed it. Anecdotally pot smokers just don’t seem obese or much of anything else other than losers.

  21. morramm says:
    9/13/2011 at 5:58 pm

    I smoked a lot as a kid, in Thailand so I don’t remember it being about food later even if we did often end up in restaurants or cafes. Getting stoned alone.. bored and access to candy cookies any sweet or sore was always cool but I didn’t like getting stoned alone (think that 70s show) Oh Oh Oh if you do smoke and enjoy a sweet treat you got to try a Thai Iced Tea! So I smoked a lot back here until the nazis took over and rock a country turned to hell in a cage match then I moved to the city and had a neighbor with a 12 year old that was too stupid to hide her pot so me and her mom smoked it pretty good stuff too. then califo does the medical pot. Best deal is no pressure, no buzz kill and I can deal with it. Since I been smoking in peace I’ve been doing other stuff as well and over the last few years I’ve lost 87 pounds

  22. deowll says:
    9/13/2011 at 7:10 pm

    Stoners have their own priorities.

  23. top drops says:
    9/23/2011 at 6:50 am

    I dont really think that it is true, there is really no profound evidence on this one. the idea is in fact absurd.


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