A University of California, Riverside preclinical study is shedding light on a long-observed but poorly understood phenomenon: chronic cannabis users tend to have lower body weight and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes, despite the drug's well-known tendency to increase appetite.

"Mice treated with THC alone showed no improvement in glucose regulation, a key indicator of type 2 diabetes. Despite losing weight, these animals continued to exhibit impaired glucose homeostasis, a hallmark of diabetes.

In contrast, mice treated with the whole cannabis extract not only lost weight but also experienced a reversal of these metabolic impairments."