A history of cannabis use is inversely correlated with diabetes mellitus, according to an epidemiological review published online ahead of print in the journal Epidemiology.

Investigators at Michigan State University, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics performed a meta-analytic study assessing cannabis use and diabetes in the general population.

“Recently active cannabis smoking and diabetes mellitus are inversely associated,” they determined. Authors estimated that subjects with a history of cannabis use were about 30 percent less likely to have diabetes compared to non-using subjects.

“Current evidence is too weak for causal inference, but there now is a more stable evidence base for new lines of clinical translational research on a possibly protective (or spurious) cannabis smoking-diabetes mellitus association suggested in prior research,” they concluded.

An observational trial published in the American Journal of Medicine in 2013 reportedthat subjects who consumed cannabis possess favorable indices related to diabetic control compared to those without a...