Table 2.
Summary of Evidence: Clinical Studies of Cannabinoid Drug Effect on Body Weight.
| Study Reference | Study Design | Population Characteristics | Cannabinoid Administered | Cannabinoid Type | Drug Administration | Duration | Effect on Body Weight, Compared to Placebo (If Applicable) | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenberg et al., 1976 [115] | Observational | Healthy males (n = 37) | Cannabis (1.8–2.3% THC) | Cannabis | Ad libitum | 21 days | Increase | |
| Foltin et al., 1986 [21] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Healthy males (n = 9) | Cannabis (1.84% THC) | Cannabis | Uniform puff procedure | 25 days | No change | |
| Foltin et al., 1988 [116] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Healthy males (n = 6) | Cannabis (2.3% THC) | Cannabis | Uniform puff procedure | 13 days | Increase | |
| Le Strat and Le Foll, 2011 [27] | Cross-Sectional | Population Representative (n = 50,736) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Warren et al., 2005 [117] | Retrospective Chart Review | Females referred for weight management (n = 297) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Rodondi et al., 2006 [118] | Longitudinal | Black and White Adults 18–30 (n = 3617) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 15 years | Decrease | Study of coronary artery disease risk factors |
| Penner et al., 2013 [119] | Cross-sectional | Population Representative (n = 4657) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Hayatbakhsh et al., 2010 [28] | Prospective Cohort | Young adults (n = 2566) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 21 years | Decrease | Followed from birth to 21 years |
| Huang et al., 2013 [120] | Longitudinal | Adolescents (n = 5141) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 12 years | Increase | Increased trajectory of adolescent cannabis use associated with obesity |
| Muniyappa et al., 2013 [121] | Cross-sectional, case-control | BMI-matched cannabis smokers and non-smokers (n = 60) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | No change | Greater abdominal visceral fat in cannabis smokers |
| Cobb et al., 2019 [122] | Survey | African American > 55 years (n = 340) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Racine et al., 2015 [30] | Cross-Sectional | African American adults (n = 100) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | No change | Insignificant trend towards lower BMI in current cannabis users |
| Ngueta et al., 2015 [123] | Cross-Sectional | Inuit adults (n = 786) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Ross et al., 2017 [124] | Longitudinal | Adult cannabis users (n = 238) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 2 years | Increase | |
| Alshaarawy and Anthony, 2019 [125] | Longitudinal | Population Representative (n = 33,000) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 3 years | Decrease | Longitudinal study of NESARC and NCS-R |
| Meier et al., 2019 [126] | Longitudinal | Young males (n = 253) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 25 years | Decrease | |
| Bancks et al., 2018 [127] | Longitudinal | Healthy adults 18–30 (n = 2902) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 25 years | Decrease | |
| Thompson and Hay, 2015 [128] | Cross-Sectional | Population Representative (n = 6281) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 7 years | Decrease | |
| N’Goran et al., 2015 [129] | Longitudinal | Young males (n = 7563) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 15 months | N/A | Greater BMI increased chances of increased cannabis use |
| Jin et al., 2017 [130] | Longitudinal | Young males (n = 712) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 20–22 years | No change | |
| Vázquez-Bourgon et al., 2019 [131] | Longitudinal | First-episode non-affective psychosis patients (n = 510) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 3 years | Decrease | All subjects treated with oral antipsychotic medication |
| Vázquez-Bourgon et al., 2019 [132] | Longitudinal | First-episode non-affective psychosis patients (n = 390) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 3 years | Decrease | Follow-up study evaluating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease |
| Scheffler et al., 2018 [133] | Longitudinal | Antipsychotic-naïve psychiatric patients (n = 109) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 1 year | Decrease | |
| Bruins et al., 2016 [134] | Longitudinal | Adults with severe mental illness (n = 3169) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | ~14 months | Decrease | |
| Kindred, 2017 [135] | Survey | Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis patients (n = 595) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Ngueta and Ndjaboue, 2019 [136] | Cross-Sectional | Population Representative (n = 129,509) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | N/A | Decrease | |
| Danielsson et al., 2016 [137] | Longitudinal | Healthy adults 18–84 (n = 17,967) | Cannabis | Cannabis | N/A | 8 years | Decrease | |
| Van Gaal et al., 2005 [138] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Adults BMI ≥ 30 or ≥ 27 kg/m2 with comorbidity (n = 920) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (5, 20 mg/day) | 1 year | Decrease | |
| Van Gaal et al., 2008 [139] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Adults BMI ≥ 30 or ≥ 27 kg/m2 with comorbidity (n = 1508) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (5, 20 mg/day) | 2 years | Decrease | |
| Pi-Sunyer et al., 2006 [140] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Adults BMI ≥ 30 or ≥ 27 kg/m2 with comorbidity (n = 3045) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (5, 20 mg/day) | 2 years | Decrease | |
| Van Gaal et al., 2008 [141] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Adults BMI ≥ 30 or ≥ 27 kg/m2 with comorbidity (n = 6627) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (5, 20 mg/day) | 2 years | Decrease | Pooled from all RIO studies |
| Bergholm et al., 2013 [142] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Obese adults (n = 37) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (20 mg/day) | 48 weeks | Decrease | |
| Topol et al., 2010 [143] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Obese adults (n = 18,695) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (20 mg/day) | 13.8 months (mean follow-up) | Not assessed | Discontinued due to adverse psychiatric side effects |
| Heppenstall et al., 2012 [144] | Open label | Obese adults with type 2 diabetes (n = 20) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (20 mg/day) | 6 months | Decrease | |
| Hollander et al., 2010 [145] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Type 2 diabetic adults (n = 368) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (20 mg/day) | 48 weeks | Decrease | |
| Scheen et al., 2006 [146] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Type 2 diabetic adults (n = 692) | Rimonabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (5, 20 mg/day) | 1 year | Decrease | |
| Proietto et al., 2010 [147] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Obese adults (n = 693) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (0.5, 1, 2 mg/day) | 1 year | Decrease | |
| Aronne et al., 2010 [148] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Obese adults (n = 2502) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (2, 4, 6 mg/day) | 2 years | Decrease | Weight loss did not increase significantly during second year of treatment |
| Wadden et al., 2010 [149] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Obese adults (n = 784) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (0.5, 1, 2 mg/day) | 1 year | Decrease | |
| Addy, Wright et al., 2008 [150] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Healthy male adults (n = 15) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (0.5, 2, 4, 6, 7.5 mg/day) | 12 weeks | Decrease | |
| Addy, Li et al., 2008 [151] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Healthy male adults (n = 24) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (0.5–600 mg) | Acute | No change | |
| Addy, Rothenberg et al., 2008 [152] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Healthy male adults (n = 60) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (5, 7.5, 10, 25 mg/day) | 2 weeks | Not assessed | |
| Kipnes et al., 2010 [153] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, multicentre | Obese adults with type 2 diabetes (n = 623) | Taranabant | Inverse Agonist | Oral (0.5, 1, 2 mg/day) | 1 year | Decrease | |
| Klumpers et al., 2013 [154] | Double-blinded, Double Dummy, Placebo-controlled | Healthy male cannabis users (n = 24) | TM38837 | Inverse Agonist | Oral (100, 500 mg) | Acute | Not assessed | |
| Bedi et al., 2010 [22] | Double-blinded, Within-subject | HIV-positive cannabis users (n = 7) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (20 mg/day 2 days, 40 mg/day 14 days) | 16 days | No change | |
| Haney et al., 2005 [23] | Double-blinded, Within-subject | HIV-positive cannabis users (n = 30) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (10, 20, 30 mg/day) | 3–4 weeks | Not assessed | |
| Cannabis | Cannabis | Smoked (1.8, 2.8, 3.9% THC) | ||||||
| DeJesus et al., 2007 [155] | Retrospective Chart Review | HIV-positive subjects (n = 155) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (9.6–10.8 mg/day) | 12 months | Increase | |
| Haney et al., 2007 [156] | Double-blinded, Within-subject | HIV-positive cannabis users (n = 10) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (5, 10 mg/day) | 6 weeks | Increase | |
| Cannabis | Cannabis | Smoked (2.0, 3.9% THC) | Increase | |||||
| Andries et al., 2014 [157] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, crossover | Anorexic women (n = 25) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (5 mg/day) | 12 weeks | Increase | |
| Reichenbach et al., 2015 [158] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Noncardiac chest pain subjects (n = 13) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (5 mg/day) | 4 weeks | No change | |
| Howard et al., 2019 [159] | Retrospective, Observational | Suppressed appetite patients (n = 38) | Dronabinol | Partial Agonist | Oral (mean 2.91 mg/day) | 9.5 days (mean) | No change | |
| Côté et al., 2016 [160] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Chemotherapy patients (n = 65) | Nabilone | Partial Agonist | Oral (0.5–2 mg/day) | 11 weeks | No change | |
| Levin et al., 2017 [161] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled | Postoperative nausea and vomiting patients (n = 340) | Nabilone | Partial Agonist | Oral (0.5 mg) | Acute | Not assessed | |
| Rzepa et al., 2015 [162] | Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, Within-subject | Healthy adults 20–36 (n = 19) | THCV | Neutral Antagonist | Oral (10 mg) | Acute | Not assessed |