Warning: Trendy 'Harmless' Nausea Cure Used During Pregnancy Could Injure Developing Baby, Study Reveals
A new study warns that women who take CBD during pregnancy could injure their unborn child.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is “typically viewed as the ‘harmless’ part of marijuana,” according to the website StudyFinds.
The outlet then noted that the typical view of CBD is now being challenged, as “researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus now say that using this increasingly popular substance during pregnancy could possibly injure a developing fetus.”
The study was published in the academic journal “Molecular Psychiatry.”
“Thousands of people suffer from nausea with pregnancy each year. Nausea can be alleviated with cannabidiol (CBD), a primary component of cannabis that is widely available. However, it is unknown how fetal CBD exposure affects embryonic development and postnatal outcomes,” the study said.
“CBD binds and activates receptors that are expressed in the fetal brain and are important for brain development,” the study added. “Excessive activation of each of these receptors can disrupt neurodevelopment.”
The study, the first to explore how CBD affects brain development before birth, concluded that “fetal CBD exposure disrupts neurodevelopment and postnatal behavior in a sex-specific manner.”
Emily Bates, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the study’s lead author offered one way CBD impacted the unborn.
“We found oral consumption of a high dose of CBD during pregnancy impaired problem-solving in female mice,” she said, according to a news release.
“This study is important to help clinicians and pregnant patients know that consuming CBD during pregnancy may have some effect on the brain development of offspring. It’s important now more than ever because CBD recently became federally legal and is available at grocery stores and gas stations,” Bates said.
“We need clinicians to start asking about CBD consumption at prenatal visits and educate the public about potential risks during pregnancy,” she said.
The study found that pain sensitivity increased in male mice exposed to CBD, according to StudyFinds.
The study is not the first to suggest CBD use in pregnancy could impact the unborn.
A 2021 study from the University of Minnesota found that CBD use in pregnancy could affect mood and cognition in offspring well beyond the period of exposure to CBD.
“CBD use has exploded in recent years, yet we still don’t have a clear picture of its impact on the brain, especially during development,” study director Christopher Faulk said.
“We show here that use during pregnancy can permanently impact the resulting offspring in adulthood and potentially for the rest of their lives,”
“The effects we observed on memory and anxiety were in 12-week-old mouse offspring, a time that approximates human young adulthood, and is cause for concern,” Nicole Wanner, a post-doctoral fellow in the College of Veterinary Medicine said.
“We were surprised at the extent that CBD-linked gene pathways were associated with neurological disorders, and expect future work will be needed to understand how fetal exposure to CBD impacts long-term brain function and mental health,” Wanner said.
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