Published on Biomedicines, a study data-driven collected by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), highlighted a possible association between cannabis use and lower prostate cancer rates.
In fact, after dividing the participants into different categories, the researchers noted a lower self-reported rate of prostate cancer among those who had or were doing use of cannabis compared to non-consumers.
And although the study needs further study, the theory, if confirmed, would be a crucial step forward in the fight against prostate cancer. What with approx 1.4 million new cases and 375 thousand deaths every year, is the second most common form of cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in men worldwide.
Cannabis could protect against prostate cancer: study
Based on data collected by NSDUH from 2002 to 2020, researchers divided the more 2500 participants in 3 bands:
- those who had never used cannabis (53.4%)
- former consumers (40.8%)
- and those who were still taking cannabis at the time of the interview (5.8%)
And they noticed one reduction combined by 21% of prostate cancer among cannabis users compared to non-users.
"Our results - support - the existing body of evidence that suggests a potentially protective role of cannabis against the development of prostate cancer," the scholars write.
Medical cannabis "that is used more and more frequently in cancer patients for the control of pain, nausea and abdominal pain", underlines the research team. Confirming that "nearly half of oncologists report prescribe medical marijuana to patients at some point in their practice."
