Q&A of the Day – Does Cannabis cause miscarriages?
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Today’s entry...
Cannabis use climbed exponentially from 60’s onward. A study: miscarriages increase x2 if the man partake’s. Curious as I recall a lot of my parents & grand generations having miscarriages way before cannabis use was popular. Your specialty...Digging up facts...
Bottom Line: There’s a lot in the news regarding marijuana/hemp products this week. First, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Florida due to the lack of reliability of CBD products being sold. Independent lab testing has revealed significant variances in the amount of CBD in products as compared to the labeling of products being sold in our state. Also, a study suggesting what you’ve referenced linking male use of cannabis to miscarriages was released. So, what’s real when it comes to cannabis and miscarriages?
The oldest accredited study on the topic of cannabis and pregnancies took place in 2006. It was conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The study said...
- CB receptors are found in sperm, eggs and embryos
- Biological changes occur with CB receptors present
The most common issue was a significant increase in ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies are only successful 1% of the time and are the cause of 10% of pregnancy related deaths for women. That’s telling unto itself. Using cannabis produces biomarkers in both men and women. That was 13 years ago and set the stage for what was released this week.
A study led by Boston University’s School of Public Health studied 1,400 couples in North America who were attempting to become pregnant. The study focused on marijuana use.
- 82% of men never used marijuana
- 10% occasionally used marijuana (less than weekly)
- 8% were regular users (at least weekly)
The result, 19% of the pregnancies involving men who used regularly resulted in miscarriages compared to normal levels for the others. The average miscarriage rate is about 12.5%. That means that miscarriage rates were 52% higher in the study for women who became pregnant via men who regularly use marijuana. These two studies in context do appear to paint a picture that marijuana use likely is linked to higher risk pregnancies, regardless of who the user may be.