A study published in Life Sciences showed that the combination of consuming cannabis and processed foods suppressed the immune system and increased cardiac dangers. The findings also indicated that consuming highly processed foods can increase cardiac health risks more than smoking cannabis.
The University of South Florida research team evaluated the participants’ consumption of cannabis and omega-6–enriched processed foods. They fed male adult mice either a control or an omega-6-rich safflower oil diet for four months. The researchers then exposed the mice to smoke from combusted cannabis flower containing cannabidiol (CBD) and extremely low amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for five days. Each twice-daily exposure lasted 30 minutes. The team then measured CBD and related cannabinoids in the plasma, lungs, spleen, olfactory bulb, and heart.
The researchers found that consuming excessive processed foods and cannabis inhalation may weaken the immune system’s responses. Analysis suggested that fatty foods rich in omega-6-rich seed oils were especially detrimental and impaired pro-resolving lipid pathways. Analysis indicated that a seed oil diet limits the immune system’s ability to fight inflammation in the body.
The combination hinders the activation of the immune system’s response to repair any damage to the heart caused by cannabis inhalation. According to senior study author Dr. Ganesh Halade, “If you are smoking cannabis, and you are already on a processed food diet — or what we call an omega-6 enriched diet — then you are shutting off the immune system, which is your defense system.” Cannabis smoke can weaken heart function and contribute to significant cannabinoid accumulation in organs such as the lungs, heart, and brain.
The study provides valuable data on cannabis’s cardiac effects combined with omega-6-rich seed oil diets in processed foods. Future research on the combined effects of cannabis consumption and fatty foods can inform public health policy and patient-medical provider discussions about dietary and medical cannabis use.
Sources: Eureka News Alert, Life Sciences
