According to a recent study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, individuals who use marijuana have higher levels of lead and cadmium in their blood and urine than those who don’t use the drug.
The researchers compared individuals who exclusively used marijuana to those who didn’t use either marijuana or tobacco, and found that the former group had significantly higher levels of these toxic heavy metals in their bodies.
Concerning findings among marijuana users
The study’s lead author, Katelyn McGraw, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences, explained that the cannabis plant is known to absorb metals. Therefore, the study’s findings suggest that marijuana use is a source of exposure to cadmium and lead.
A study was conducted on a group of 7,254 adult participants who had their blood and urine analyzed for five and sixteen metals respectively, using a technique that measures trace elements in biological fluids.
The researchers combined data collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2005 and 2018.
The group was divided into four categories: non-marijuana/non-tobacco users, exclusive marijuana users, exclusive tobacco users, and dual marijuana/tobacco users. When the researchers analyzed the urinary metal levels, they discovered that those who exclusively used marijuana had 21% higher levels of lead and 18% higher levels of cadmium. Tiffany Sanchez, the lead author of the study and assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, reported these findings.
“Both cadmium and lead stay in your body for quite a long time,” Ms. Sanchez said, Earth.com reported.
“Cadmium is absorbed in the renal system and is filtered out to [sic] through the kidney. So, when you’re looking at urinary cadmium, that’s a reflection of total body burden, how much you have taken in over a long period of chronic exposure.” Take a look at the EHP official post in order to learn more details about the matter.
