Smoking cannabis can increase the risk of heart problems 鈥� but doing so and eating highly processed foods increases cardiac health risks even more, a new USF Health study says.
The combination may weaken the immune system, leading to a higher risk of cardiac problems.
Consuming a diet heavy in processed foods, especially those laden with seed oils, and smoking cannabis may compromise the immune system, according to the paper . That, in turn, impedes the immune system鈥檚 response from being activated to repair any damage to the heart caused by inhaling cannabis.
Ganesh Halade, PhD
鈥淚f you are smoking cannabis, and you are already on a processed food diet 鈥� or what we call an omega-6 enriched diet 鈥� then you are shutting off the immune system, which is your defense system,鈥� said , a cardiovascular researcher and professor of Internal Medicine in the , and senior author of the new study. 鈥淚n other words, if you eat a lot of this type of food and add in smoking cannabis, then your defense system will be impaired.鈥�
In the study, researchers examined the effects of smoking hemp, a form of cannabis that contains CBD, or cannabidiol. It contains extremely low amounts of THC, the compound in marijuana that causes people to experience psychoactive effects. Marijuana is derived from the cannabis plant.
Researchers wanted to study the impact of smoking cannabis and its overlap with the consumption of omega-6鈥揺nriched processed foods amid concerns that marijuana use is becoming more frequent among populations that are already unhealthy.
The genesis for the study was the increasing number of U.S. states where marijuana use is legalized. Dr. Halade has been participating in tobacco-related research grant review in California and, while visiting there, noticed the prevalence of cannabis in the downtown area.
鈥淚 was reading the previous scientific literature and realized we have limited understanding of what cannabis is doing to the body at a molecular level,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o I thought, 鈥榃hat is the impact of cannabis, where the American diet is already heavy on processed/packaged food? It is a real situation. And that is what we鈥檙e trying to address in this whole paper.鈥�
According to the study, while cannabis is legal in 35 states, 鈥渋ts cardiac effects, particularly alongside omega-6-rich seed oil diets in processed foods, are not well understood.鈥� However, through laboratory experiments, Dr. Halade and his team found that cannabis smoke weakened the heart function and that significant quantities of multiple cannabis compounds accumulated in several organs, including the heart, lungs and brain.
Furthermore, they found that the seed-oil diet suppresses the immune system鈥檚 ability to fight inflammation in the body when compared with a diet that did not include processed and packaged foods. For context, Dr. Halade pointed out that only a small percentage of the body鈥檚 blood cells, about one percent of the blood content, are part of the immune system.
鈥淭hink of it as the Army, the police or firefighters,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen there鈥檚 a problem, they come to fight it right away. That鈥檚 what that one percent is doing within the body 鈥� and it doesn鈥檛 discriminate among organs. Wherever there鈥檚 a problem, it goes there. Whether it鈥檚 an insect bite, a cut or an acute injury, that same one percent goes to any part of the body to take care of it. In essence, our whole defense system depends on that tiny percentage.鈥�
Unless, as the paper explains, the immune system is undermined by the combination of cannabis and processed/packaged food enriched with seed oils.
鈥淥ur first innovative finding is that we have very state-of-the-art technology to quantify the components that are present in the cannabis material,鈥� Dr. Halade explained. 鈥淲e can detect it in the heart, in the spleen, the plasma, the lungs and the brain. This means that when anyone smokes cannabis, it can go rapidly to the multiple organs. And we can detect it within two hours.鈥�
But a second, more critical discovery, points to the negative effect of inhaled cannabis smoke on the immune system for people whose menu choices are filled with soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil and many other oils that are key ingredients in processed/packaged foods. Dr. Halade weighs that fact against the knowledge that some 40 percent of the population is obese, and some 70-75 percent are overweight.
鈥淪o that whole population is already on packaged or processed food of some sort, and if these people are among those smoking cannabis, they will definitely have a more harmful effect than a beneficial one,鈥� Dr. Halade said. 鈥淚f they get sick, it can be worse for them.鈥�
Dr. Halade and his team conducted a five-day lab study that examined the impact of smoking twice daily over that period. It demonstrated a pronounced impact from a microscopic perspective. 鈥淲e could detect molecules in the organs from the cannabis, and we also learned that it weakens the heart and inflames the lungs and other organs,鈥� he said.
That can lead to another kind of danger: developing chronic inflammation. While acute inflammation is the body鈥檚 response to an infection or injury, and is part of the healing process, chronic inflammation has more negative effects.
鈥淐hronic inflammation is the one we need to take care of, and that is the one coming from our lifestyle choices,鈥� Dr. Halade said. 鈥淚t really has tremendous consequences on your whole body, and that鈥檚 what cannabis is doing. It amplifies your chronic inflammation, rather than activating your beneficial acute inflammation.鈥�
Given the complexity involved, scientists still do not fully understand the immune system, Dr. Halade adds, but in addition to inhaling cannabis and eating a poor diet, two other key factors have a direct effect on the immune system: and .
鈥淲e previously published a paper on that, and our motto was, if the three components are there 鈥� good diet, proper sleep and regular exercise 鈥� then the immune system responds effectively to eliminate the danger from the body,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut adding cannabis, on top of a poor diet, makes a mess.鈥�
What comprises a good diet? Dr. Halade points to a non-processed, homemade, wholesome diet-based approach, especially later in a person鈥檚 life. 鈥淔rom middle age on, the diet, along with physical activity and sleep, needs to be coordinated for better health,鈥� he said.
The other USF Health researchers who participated in this study are: Gunjan Upadhyay, Long Duong, Vasundhara Kain, Megan Ghobrial, Mathan Kumar Marimuthu, Alexandra Fouad, Timothy J. Yeatman, and Jose D. Herazo-Maya. The study was supported by the Florida Department of Health.