Ep.46 Weed Use in Teens and Weight Gain

Ever wonder if teenage habits can shape adult health?

That family debate about whether marijuana contributes to weight issues just got a whole lot more interesting.

Tune in to learn more about the findings of a pivotal study published in the Addict Behavior Journal, which tracked over 5,000 adolescents into early adulthood.

Association between Adolescent Substance Use and Obesity in Young Adulthood: A Group-based Dual Trajectory Analysis

David Y.C. Huanga, H. Isabella Lanzab, and M. Douglas Anglinc

I’m Dr. Jenny Gourgari—pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine and a health coach.
After helping hundreds of teens struggling with their weight and hormones, I’ve created a whole new path by doing what most programs miss: balance puberty hormones naturally and create habits that actually last.

Here's what makes this different:
✅ No dieting. No calorie counting. No shame.
✅ No more food fights between parents and teens.
✅ No weight obsession—just healthy habits
✅ Real science behind how puberty hormones affect weight
✅ A safe, supportive approach that prevents eating disorders

Because when teens understand their hormones and get the right support, they don’t just lose weight—they gain strength, energy, confidence, and freedom!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens
podcast.
If you're a mom and want tohelp your child who is
struggling to lose weight, youare in the right place.
If you are looking for healthylifestyle tips, dr Gorgery is
here to help you understand thescience around safe weight loss
in teens and children, becausewhat works for adult weight loss
is not always the best forchildren.

(00:29):
This podcast is for educationalpurposes only.
Dr Gorgory does not providemedical, psychological or
nutrition therapy advice.
You should not use thisinformation to diagnose or treat
any health problems withoutconsulting your own medical
practitioner and now your host,dr Jenny Gorgory.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hello, welcome to another episode of the Lifestyle
and Weight Loss for Teenspodcast.
This is Dr Jenny Gorgory, andtoday I will be talking about
the association between cannabisor marijuana or weed those are
commonly used names and the riskto get into an unhealthy weight

(01:16):
.
And I started this wholediscovery because I was recently
had a family where a teenagerhad a different opinion when he
was discussing with his momabout whether he was smoking
marijuana, whether that was oneof the reasons that he was in an

(01:40):
unhealthy weight.
So he was saying, no, that'snothing to do with it, and his
mom was saying, no, I.
No, that's nothing to do withit, and his mom was saying, no,
I think this has a lot to dowith it.
So I decided to look more intothe scientific evidence and see
if there were any studies thathave actually looked into that
and be able to convince justbesides just me talking about it

(02:03):
.
So, in fact, there has been astudy that looked into that.
Actually, there have been a lotof studies, but the reason I
chose this particular study isbecause it was based on a few
thousand of teenagers, and itwas teenagers that they were
followed over time and they werealso getting measurements of

(02:28):
their height, their weight andtheir habitual patterns during
adolescence in terms of smokingcigarettes, drinking alcohol and
also smoking.
So then they looked at themover different years and for
several years, and then theyfound them again when they were

(02:49):
not.
They found them, they followedthem also when they were adults,
in their early adulthood, andso they looked to see whether
there was any associationbetween their habit of smoking
marijuana with the unhealthyweight gain.
The actual title of themanuscript is Association

(03:10):
Between Adolescent Substance Useand Obesity in Young Adulthood
a Group-Based Dual TrajectoryAnalysis.
It was published in 2013 in theAddict Behavior Journal.
So, as I mentioned, this studytook into account a huge number
of teenagers.

(03:30):
There was a total of 5,141teenagers.
It was part of a big study, theNational Longitudinal Survey of
Youth, which was started in1979.
Started in 1979, and theylooked at all those kids for

(03:56):
many years, until they were from12 to 18 years of age to when
they were 20 to 24 years of age.
So at the beginning of thisstudy, I mean, they looked at
several other different things,but they also looked at their
habits, as I said, aboutcigarette smoking, alcohol use
and marijuana use, and then theylooked also to look what was
their BMI, their body mass index, when they were 20 to 24.

(04:20):
And if you don't know what bodymass index, again, I invite you
to go back to episode one ofthe Lifestyle and Weight Loss
for Teens podcast, where Iexplain more about what is BMI
and how much weight does ateenager needs to lose to be in
a healthy weight.
But, in summary, bmi is a toolthat researchers use to evaluate

(04:41):
whether a teenager is in ahealthy or unhealthy weight and,
if so, how much weight do theyneed to lose to be in a healthy
weight or not?
So what the researchers foundwas that and I'm just going to
focus really on the marijuanause and what the teenagers what

(05:02):
this study found that weresmoking more marijuana were more
likely to be in a healthyweight when they were 20 and 24.
In other words, they were morelikely to gain weight with this
persistent marijuana use duringthe teenage years.
And again, this is more than5,000 of kids that they were

(05:25):
followed over many years.
So the question is why does thishappen and why does marijuana
use lead to unhealthy weight?
Well, there are several reasonswhy this can happen.
One is that marijuana use tendsto increase the appetite.

(05:46):
So when you it is a substance,it has effects on the brain.
So some of the effects havethis effects on the cognition,
that and behavioral that.
This is why teenagers actuallywant to use it.
But they also have effects onthe appetite regulation so they
eat more, they're more hungry,so they are more likely to eat

(06:09):
food when they don't need it asa side effect of having
marijuana use.
Now, the second mechanism bywhich marijuana use can lead to
weight gain is because there isproblems with their sleep.
I have talked previously onprevious episodes about how
sleep affects the weight gain inteenagers.

(06:33):
So, because marijuana use candisrupt the regular sleep cycle
in teenagers, then they're notsleeping well and then that can
increase their likelihood ofgetting into an unhealthy weight
.
And again, you can search theprevious episodes and look for

(06:55):
the episodes where I talk moreabout the association of poor
sleep with unhealthy cravings inteenagers.
And obviously, if you're notsleeping well, then that's going
to affect not only yourhormones that are important for
your metabolism, but they'regoing to affect also your
ability to exercise.

(07:16):
So it's multifactorial and weedhas a negative effect on your
sleep.
Now there is also a thirdmechanism by which wheat can
lead to weight gain and that isbecause there is increased risk
for cravings for unhealthysnacks, particularly the ones

(07:38):
that have high carbs, and thereis preference for high-caloric
food, especially the sweet andfatty foods.
They seem more appealing food,especially the sweet and fatty
foods.
They seem more appealing andobviously you're consuming most
of these factors.
You are going to gain moreweight.

(08:03):
Another mechanism by whichmarijuana use can lead to weight
gain in teenagers is theability of teenagers to exercise
goes down with the commonmarijuana use.
So there's more.
There's decreased motivation toexercise, there's this kind of
sleepiness, kind of lethargy,kind of slow motion, and this
makes it less likely to go anddo activity and you just want to

(08:28):
be in bed or in the couch orjust doing nothing.
So it doesn't promote physicalactivity and if you're not
physically active, then againthat's going to lead to
unhealthy health.
That's going to lead tounhealthy weight gain.
That's going to lead to higherrisks to be in an unhealthy
weight, even when you're 20 and24.

(08:48):
And finally, there is also somestudies that Juana may affect
metabolism.
It can potentially affect theway that your body processes and
stores energy and it canpotentially affect the way that
your body prefers to store fatinstead of breaking down the fat

(09:09):
.
So I hope this was convincingand I know in certain states in
the United States that use ofmarijuana is legal.
I know it is more accessible toteenagers and, as part of our
counseling and our conversationsas parents and as professionals

(09:31):
we have with teenagers, we talkabout the importance of staying
away from all those substancesand reducing these addictions
and, for those teenagers, thatit is important for them to have
healthy habits and it'simportant for them to get into a
healthy weight.
I think it is important to knowthat one area they can target

(09:55):
is if they are smoking a lot ofmarijuana and weed, they need to
cut back on that and stop it,and that will improve their
efforts dramatically.
I hope this was helpful.
If you like this episode,please feel free to share it
with somebody who may find ithelpful, and you can subscribe

(10:18):
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slash newsletter and let's stayin touch.
Feel free to reach out to me ifyou have any questions or any
topics you'd like me to talkabout.
Take care.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, I
invite you to come check out theLIFT program.
It's Dr Gorgeri's 12-weekcoaching program for teens and
their moms, where we take allthis information, we apply it to
your daily life and we worktogether so your teenager learns
how to create a healthylifestyle so they can feel
happier, more confident, lessstressed and love their body

(10:53):
again.
Visit the website atlifestyleforteenscom and click
on the work with me and freeresources to learn more about
this program and get free helpto start this journey right away
.
Thanks for tuning in and we'llcatch you in the next episode of
Lifestyle and Weight Loss forTeens.