Pregnant and breast-feeding women should probably be advised to reduce or, where possible, stop using cannabis altogether, and couples trying to conceive should also consider cutting back.
Approximately one in six couples “cannot conceive after a year and are labeled infertile, with a male factor identified in up to half of all cases.” Several lifestyle factors have been associated with decreased sperm production, such as smoking cigarettes, but what about smoking cannabis?
“Smoking marijuana habitually more than once a week was associated with 28%… lower sperm concentration”, as well as a lower total sperm count according to a study of more than a thousand men, but “no adverse association was found for irregular use” of less than once a week .
As I analyze it in my video. The effects of marijuana on fertility and pregnancythis it was not a randomized study, so other factors that go along with regular marijuana use may have been to blame. The researchers took into account cigarettes, alcohol, other drugs, STDs and things like that, but there’s always the possibility that there was something else they didn’t control for.
The findings were similar for women. Hundreds of infertile couples were study in California and, just as men had about a quarter fewer sperm, a quarter fewer eggs were obtained from women who used cannabis more than 90 times in their lives or who had used in the previous year. Again, there could have been confounding factors, but until we know more, couples who are trying to conceive may want to make the joint decision to move on.
What happens during pregnancy? As you can see below and at minute 1:39 in my videomedical authorities recommend that “women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant should be encouraged to discontinue marijuana use” and not use it during pregnancy or breastfeeding, although the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine suggests that the known benefits of Breast milk currently outweighs any potential harm to women who continue to smoke it. . Despite these warnings from the authorities, marijuana consumption has increase among pregnant women in recent years, increasing by more than 60 percent, but that’s only from about 2.5 percent to less than 4 percent, which is less than half the frequency of non-pregnant women .
Why are obstetricians and gynecologists so reluctant to get high? Scary items appear in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecologylike one doing states that a “large study by the US National Center for the Prevention of Birth Defects documented a significantly increased risk of anencephaly [a serious birth defect] when the fetus is exposed to marijuana during the first month of gestation.” But, if you don’t just take his word and pull When you look at the actual study, you’ll see that the association wasn’t statistically significant after all. As a letter to the editor was titled, “Marijuana and pregnancy: objective education Is Good, but biased education is not.”
Some risks have been identified: Babies “were more likely to have anemia and… have lower birth weight and require admission to neonatal intensive care than babies of mothers who did not use marijuana.” However, it is “difficult determine the direct effects of maternal cannabis use on the developing fetus” due to a variety of confounding factors that studies may not be able to fully control for.
Studies also show links between prenatal marijuana exposure and learning problems later in life (which manifest years later in school) and that is where the biggest concern lies: the possible long-term effects on the brain development. Therefore, even after “debunking the myths,” there is enough concern that “pregnant and breast-feeding cannabis users should be identified early and advised to reduce or, when possible, completely discontinue use.” cannabis consumption.”
What do I mean by reducing “when possible”? Watch my video Natural Treatments for Morning Sickness to see how using marijuana during pregnancy can sometimes save lives.
I originally posted several videos about cannabis on a webinar and Downloadable digital DVDs. If you missed any of them, they are listed in the related videos below.
For more information on fertility, see Male fertility and diet and Dairy estrogens and male fertility.
