A study from Obstetrics and Gynecology found evidence that the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana transfers into breastmilk. An expert unpacks what new moms need to know.
By Abby Haglage, Yahoo Lifestyle
Science has long confirmed that alcohol consumed by a nursing mother makes its way into her breast milk; a finding that has prompted a range of products which
ensure the safety of babies whose moms want to imbibe. But this week, a
new potential concern was added to the list for new, breastfeeding
moms: marijuana.
In a study published by the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers
found evidence that the drug’s psychoactive component (THC) appears in
breast milk hours after the drug itself is consumed. Although the study
was small (just eight women), the research is the first to find proof
that cannabis can be passed into breast milk—a finding that has
significant implications for an infant’s health.
To
investigate whether breast milk is at risk, researchers located women
who considered themselves occasional marijuana users, and were currently
breastfeeding an infant. After 24 hours of no marijuana, each woman was
instructed to inhale a dose of 0.1 grams of cannabis, containing more
than 23 percent (THC) or tetrahydrocannabinol.
THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, responsible for the
feeling of euphoria that the drug can sometimes yield.
After
consuming the dose, the new moms collected samples of their breast milk
at four different stages: 20 minutes after consuming, then one hour,
two hours, and four hours. At all four points, the researchers found
“low levels of THC concentrations” in the breast milk—meaning the
chemical was likely passed to the infant. How much, however, is
difficult to deduce.
The
researchers estimated that the mean dose of THC that an infant received
was 2.5 percent of their mother’s dose. This means they ingested just
micrograms of the psychoactive ingredient. But the study’s authors still
believe this should act as a warning. “The
long-term neurobehavioral effect of exposure to
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol on the developing brain is unclear,” the
authors write. “Mothers should be cautious using cannabis during
pregnancy and breastfeeding.”
Dr.
Daniele Piomelli, a professor of anatomy and neurobiology at University
of California Irvine, as well as director of the school’s Center for the Study of Cannabis,
tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the study is “important confirmation” that
THC accumulates in breast milk. Piomelli, who has spent more than two
decades studying marijuana, is quick to confirm that doctors have long
known about THC in breastmilk. But as to what effect it may have on the infant, he reinforces what the authors concluded: we don’t know. “Animal studies have suggested long-term effect of early
life exposure to THC, but most of these studies used very high doses of
THC,” he tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We need to identify levels of exposure
that pose a real risk to the mother and the offspring. That’s not easy,
for a variety of ethical and experimental reasons, but it can be done
and it should be done.”
So
far, the main studies on THC’s effect on infants have been done on
pregnant mothers. One of the most widely cited comes from the National
Academy of Sciences in 2017, in which researchers concluded that THC use
during pregnancy was associated with lower birth weight in infants. But that finding, which had cropped up in earlier studies, had already been disputed by contradictory evidence.
So
while the science world remains in disagreement about how THC impacts
an infant’s brain, a consensus seems to have been reached about whether
or not it’s present in breast milk. Given this confirmation, Piomelli
suggests new mothers abstain from pot. “I
would recommend avoiding cannabis, alcohol, and any other drug during
pregnancy and lactation,” Piomelli says. “We don’t know the consequences
of exposing a developing brain to THC. I would err on the side of
caution.”
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