Written by Renata Filiaci, MSHW

I’ve had a lot of people come in for weight loss information and obesity questions so today I will be addressing how the role of cannabinoids can be used to combat obesity and aid in weight loss.

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese. The issue has grown to epidemic proportions, with over 4 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese. Rates of overweight and obesity continue to grow in adults and children. In 2016, 1.9 billion adults worldwide were overweight and 650 million obese.

The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended. Also, an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars; and an increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.

Currently, an increasing number of diseases related to insulin resistance and obesity is an alarming problem worldwide. Raised BMI is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), which were the leading cause of death in 2012; diabetes; musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis – a highly disabling degenerative disease of the joints); some cancers (including endometrial, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidney, and colon).

For many patients, Cannabis may be a better option for weight loss than surgery or pharmaceuticals.

New therapeutic methods are constantly sought for the prevention, treatment and alleviation of symptoms of the above-mentioned diseases. Currently, much attention is paid to Cannabis and its constituents. Many authors conclude that the prevalence of obesity is lower in cannabis users than in nonusers. CBD functions as a negative allosteric modulator of CB1 receptor meaning it lowers agonist affinity and/or efficacy, unlike THC, therefore, it was indicated that CBD is able to block CB1 receptor, thereby producing anti-obesity effects. An interesting result of the latest studies was the fact that CBD has greater affinity for various molecular targets, such as lipid mediators and metabolic enzymes. Researchers also reported that CBD significantly induced the transcriptional activity of PPARγ, which decreases the inflammatory response of many cardiovascular cells and increases liver synthesis; this is an interesting therapeutic target due to its crucial role in regulating glucose homeostasis, lipoprotein metabolism, and inflammation.

Also, researchers have discovered that CBD, depending on the time and dose, reduced triacylglycerols accumulation in adipose tissue – these results emphasize a potential role of CBD on lipolysis induction, which is the process leading to the breakdown of triglycerides stored in fat cells and release of fatty acids and glycerol. Studies also revealed that CBD treatment, in a time-dependent manner, induced the mitochondrial activation and increased oxygen consumption, which may be an explanation for the reduced fat accumulation in adipocytes despite of increased glucose uptake.

Evidence available at this time suggests that it is ingestion of THC that is responsible for downregulation of CB1R, and therefore, for reduced obesity rates of Cannabis users. Our theory suggests that the psychoactive effects of CB1R stimulation with THC may be a necessary accompaniment to Cannabis-induced weight loss, because downregulation of CB1R is required for reduced BMI, and it is not yet clear whether microdosing will cause downregulation. However, weekly or biweekly Cannabis use may be sufficient as significant decreases in BMI are observed at weekly usage rates.