According to this article published by the National Institutes of Health, anti-psychotic medications may cause metabolic changes in some individuals, such as Alzheimer’s patients and schizophrenia patients.
Since it is known that cannabis (marijuana) use is associated with reduced incidence of obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors, this study set out to determine what effects cannabis would have on metabolic factors for those getting treatment for first episode schizophrenia and related disorders.
Out of 109 patients treated with standard anti-psychotics over a period of 12 months, 40 of them tested positive for cannabis use at least once during the period, while 69 did not show any use of cannabis at all.
Those who did not use cannabis had a greater increase in body mass index, increased fasting blood glucose, increased triglycerides, decreased HDL, and increased waist measurements. These are all factors for metabolic syndrome and indicates that cannabis offers some protection against that.
