Smoking THC in your teens slashes your egg count in HALF, study suggests trends now
Teenage girls who smoke marijuana may be permanently harming their fertility, researchers warn.
A study led by the University of California, Irvine (UCI), found adolescent female mice exposed to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in the drug, had 50 percent less healthy ovarian follicles than the control group by the time they were adults.
With marijuana use now commonplace among teens across America, researchers fear many young women are unknowingly damaging their likelihood of having a child in the future.
While the latest study was on mice, separate research has shown that pregnant women who use cannabis are at a greater risk of birth defects, miscarriages and stillbirths.
Teenage girls who smoke marijuana may be permanently harming their fertility, researchers warn (stock image)
Researchers found that mice who were regularly exposed to THC over two weeks had 50 percent less ovaries, including primordial ovaries that represent the number of eggs a woman will have for the remainder of her life
Marijuana is legal for recreational use in 21 US states and Washington DC (orange). It is available for medicinal use in 17 states (green)
'Given that more and more teenagers and young adults are using cannabis, especially with easier access to the substance, this study's findings are especially important,' Dr Ulrike Luderer, lead author of the study and professor of environmental health at UCI, said.
'It is imperative to widely broadcast the consequences of early-life exposure to cannabis on reproductive health in adulthood.'
An estimated 3.3million US teens between ages 12 and 17 use cannabis, experts warn.
Use of THC, the chemical within the drug that gives someone the 'high' feeling, has been legalized recreationally in 21 US states and the District of
