Cannabis has been shown to have various health benefits: pain management, quelling nausea, and, of course, the calming effects of relaxation.
And now that legal weed for recreational use is becoming increasingly common (9 states and Washington, D.C., full list here), an increasing number of studies are being funded to better illustrate and understand marijuana’s effects on your health.
The latest study? Smoking weed might be incredibly beneficial for your liver.
According to researchers at the National Institute of Scientific Research at the University of Quebec, which used the hospital discharge records of nearly 320,000 patients who either currently abuse, or in the past have abused, alcohol, marijuana is something of a miracle drug:
Alcohol abusers who didn’t consume cannabis during their heavy drinking days had a whopping 90% chance of developing a liver disease. “Light” cannabis users, conversely, had only an 8% chance.
Subjects who drank alcohol excessively while getting high were found to have considerably lower chances of developing liver diseases, like hepatitis, steatosis, and cirrhosis, than those who only drank and passed on the puff-puffing.
While the study isn’t definitive – science is certainly not telling you to roll up a joint and get twisted every time you enjoy a glass of wine, beer, or shot of Jamo – it does correlate with an earlier study, published in October 2017 by the US National Library of Medicine: Researchers from Stanford found a potential link between marijuana use and lower fasting-insulin levels (learn what those are here). A study of 8,200 patient records revealed the lowest levels of “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease” were found “in current heavy users of marijuana.”
Also, as a liver disease has been linked to insulin resistance, caused by too much fat in the liver blocking glucose metabolism (learn more here), the results suggest (consequently, and only preliminarily) that cannabis might actually help protect you from the dangers of overeating as well.
So those munchies you get? Maybe not so bad after all.
It might not be legal for recreational use in Minnesota (yet), but if you’re ever traveling across the United States, you can stop into the Best Dispensaries in America for 2018
Read this next: A Twin Cities guide to surviving your hangover
