You switched from smoking flower to chewing edibles to avoid the health risks that come with smoke or vapor inhalation. You’ve now fallen into perhaps life’s most elaborate trap: everything will kill you, and every supposed healthy alternative contains its own alternative way to kill you.No smoke, no problem, right?It breaks my heart to tell you that, according to science, you are wrong. Edibles might be doing a number on your heart, too, because it may not be the method you use to get the THC in you as much as it’s the THC itself.It Turns Out Edibles Might Be Wrecking Your HeartA new study published in JAMA Cardiology by researchers at UC San Francisco says that edibles may be just as hard on your heart as smoking. The team tracked 55 people from the Bay Area over three years. Some were abstinent, others toked or munched THC a few times a week. At the finish line, both smoker and edible user groups showed signs of heart trouble. Specifically, reduced blood vessel function and early markers of cardiovascular disease.Matthew Springer, a UCSF heart researcher and co-author, didn’t expect that finding. “Scientifically, this THC result is really interesting,” he told SF Gate, “but boy does it screw up the public health messaging,” he continued. Boy, does it indeed. Kind of makes edibles seem like when the soda market shifted to diet drinks with artificial sweeteners that give you cancer. Oops.The good news is, even though edibles might not be a 100 percent safer alternative, they might still be way safer than smoking. Smoking provides a “double whammy” of harming blood cells and lowering nitric oxide levels, thus damaging blood vessels. By smoking marijuana, the THC and the byproducts of its combustion offer a one-two punch of cardiovascular destruction that you can avoid with edibles.The ultimate discovery here is that THC itself may be responsible for an increased risk of heart disease, no matter how you imbibe it. While the study did not definitively confirm this one way or another, Springer told SF Gate that “we can be pretty confident” that cannabis can damage your cardiovascular system. Bummer.The post Are Edibles Really Bad For Your Heart? appeared first on VICE.