Cannabis Smoking Causes More Lung Damage Than Tobacco, Claims Study
Earlier studies have revealed how cannabis consumption has had detrimental effects on lung health, however, now a new study has revealed that it actually could be way worse than tobacco.
Researchers revealed that prolonged cannabis consumption resulted in overinflation of lungs while increasing the resistance to airflow to a considerable extent than tobacco.
Study co-author, Bob Hancox said in a statement, "It was also found that cannabis use may also impair the ability of the lungs to extract oxygen from the breath. This is a known consequence of smoking tobacco, but has not been demonstrated with cannabis until now."
This is based on a long-running study conducted by Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development that had documented the use of cannabis among 1,000 individuals born in Dunedin during 1972/1973 while measuring their lung function throughout the adult life of up to 45.
Around 75 percent of individuals in the Dunedin study consumed cannabis at some point in their lives. Researchers saw that some patients who smoked a lot of cannabis have a distinct form of lung damage -- a medical condition dubbed emphysema that is also referred to as bong lung.
Hancox added, "The latest Dunedin study findings support observations from other research that cannabis has different effects to tobacco. The Dunedin results extend these findings with more complete measures of cannabis use and a full assessment of lung function using eleven different measures. Of course, people who smoke both cannabis and tobacco are likely to suffer lung damage from both substances."