How pot harms your baby’s brain: Smoking cannabis in pregnancy ‘impairs memory, decision-making and personality’

June 20, 2016

Brain scans compared development of three groups of children – those exposed to cannabis, those exposed to tobacco and a control group
Results show thicker prefrontal cortex in children exposed to pot in womb
Prefrontal cortex controls memory, decision-making, complex cognition and is linked to a person’s personality
Experts say pregnant women must be dissuaded from smoking cannabis

Lizzie Parry For Dailymail.com

Published:
15:56 EST, 20 June 2016

|
Updated:
15:56 EST, 20 June 2016

View
comments

Pregnant women who smoke cannabis risk causing damage to their unborn baby’s brain, experts have warned.

The drug is linked to abnormal brain structure in children, a new study has revealed.

Those children exposed to marijuana in the womb were found to have a thicker prefrontal cortex region of the brain, when compared to children not exposed to the drug.

The prefrontal cortex is a region of the brain that is linked to decision-making, memory and personality.

A new study has revealed smoking cannabis during pregnancy can cause abnormalities to a woman’s unborn child’s brain. Experts say the findings support the advise that pregnant women should not smoke pot or cigarettes while they are expecting

The study’s author, Dr Hanan El Marroun, of the Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands, said: ‘This study is important because cannabis use during pregnancy is relatively common and we know very little about the potential consequences of cannabis exposure during pregnancy and brain development later in life.’

The field of research is an emerging one, as the legalization of cannabis becomes more widespread.

From raging hormones to spots and sweating, doctor reveals…

How traffic-light signals could help fight obesity: Red,…

Which colour is best for your brain power? Students…

Millions of people may be needlessly taking statins every…

An estimated two to 13 per cent of women across the world use the drug while they are pregnant.

And, previous research has identified short and long-term behavioral consequences of prenatal cannabis exposure.

But, the effect the drug has on brain morphology in offspring, were unknown.

Dr El Marroun said: ‘Understanding what happens in the brain may give us insights in how children develop after being exposed to cannabis.’

She and her team of researchers used structural magnetic resource imaging (MRI) scans to examine the brains of 54 children, all aged between six and eight years old.

All of the 54 children had been exposed to cannabis while they were in the womb.

Meanwhile, the researchers discovered most of those children exposed to marijuana had also been exposed to tobacco.

As a result, they also examined brain scans of 96 children, exposed to just tobacco in the womb, as well as a group of 113 control children with no exposure to either drug.

The drug was found to cause a child’s prefrontal cortex (highlighted in green at the front of the brain) to be thicker. The region is responsible for decision-making, memory, complex cognition and personality

Researchers compared the brain scans of all three groups.

They noted differences in the thickness of the prefrontal cortex, it being thicker in children exposed to cannabis.

The researchers say their findings suggest cannabis exposure has different effects than tobacco.

No differences were found in overall brain volume in those children exposed to cannabis.

Dr John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry, the journal in which the new study is published, said: ‘The growing legalization, decriminalization, and medical prescription of cannabis increases the potential risk of prenatal exposure.

‘This important study suggests that prenatal exposure to cannabis could have important effects on brain development.’

Dr El Marroun added: ‘We have to be careful interpreting the results of the current study.’

He said further research is needed to explore the causal nature of the relationship between prenatal cannabis exposure and structural brain abnormalities.

She said: ‘Nevertheless, the current study combined with existing literature does support the importance of preventing smoking cannabis and cigarettes during pregnancy.’