Truth or hoax?
In case you have missed the craze that surrounds the CBD oil or the products with CBD in them, you must have been living under a cave.
With new products quickly filling up the store shelves as the markets explode with CBD oil and products containing CBD, it is being believed to be a miracle cure it all for health issues!
Ever since marijuana has been gaining legal status in more and more countries, the medical world has been smitten by the frenzy surrounding the non-intoxicating product derived from the cannabis plant called cannabidiol.
With the health food stores, internet and wellness catalogs full of information about CBD products and their benefits, this wonder product is taking the world by storm. With an impressive array of CBD products readily — ranging from tinctures to skin patches to candies to drink powders to massage oils, lotions, and much more, most of these products point towards relieving pain and enhancing the overall well-being.
Moreover, a lot of wellness centers have also started using CBD oil products which are by far one of the most commonly used forms of CBD which is used as an aid to alleviate various ailments of the consumers.
But with all the mania associated with CBD oil, the real questions are – what is CBD oil actually supposed to do and does this stuff provides the benefits it actually claims?
A deeper look into the studies and research suggests that there is indeed a big, fat answer to all these questions.
While there is sufficient and interesting evidence to prove that cannabis can ease chronic pain and possibly treat certain medical conditions as well, there is a lot of debate surrounding the fact if CBD can provide the same benefits on an independent basis. At this point, one thing is for sure – that the marketing gimmicks of selling CBD into the market have gotten way ahead of science.
So, What The Heck Is CBD?
A class of compounds that interact with the receptors all throughout our body are known as cannabinoids. CBD is one of the dozens of cannabinoids that can be found in the cannabis plant as a whole – which also includes tetrahydrocannabinol (famously referred to as THC). THC is the most famous cannabinoid that is present in cannabis which causes the psychoactive effect of the high in people which makes it hugely popular for recreational purposes. CBD alone contributes up to 40 percent of entire cannabis resin.
It is said that there are about 85 to 113 different kinds of known and suspected cannabinoids present in the cannabis plants and each one of them has various effects on the body. Being the chemical compound of the cannabis plant, cannabinoids have a calming effect on the human body after it is consumed. There is a network of cannabinoid receptors in our body that help the compound in producing various effects such as reducing anxiety, acting as a pain suppressor among others.
Cannabinoids are separated by being classified into various subclasses which include cannabigerols (CBG), Cannabichromenes (CBC), Cannabidiols (CBD), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabinol (CBN), and cannabinodiol (CBDL). Apart from these, there are other kinds such as cannabicyclol (CBL), cannabielsoin (CBE), cannabitriol (CBT), and other miscellaneous kinds of cannabinoids as well.
Many times, people tend to confuse CBD as the medical cannabinoid and THC or tetrahydrocannabinol as the recreational cannabinoid which is not right. THC is potentially anti-inflammatory in nature and can help in easing the pain of patients suffering from chronic pain. Technically explaining from a medical point of view, cannabis is a product that is used for medicinal purposes. It may or may or may not contain THC along with CBD or both.
What Exactly Caused The CBD Craze?
The reason why CBD has become the talk of the town is that it is absolutely safe to consume due to its non-intoxicating nature and so it will not get you high. It is the non-psychoactive properties of CBD that make it a perfect treatment for dealing with anxiety issues. Even though there is a lot of hype around the fact that CBD can be consumed without getting high or stoned, not much research has been done to understand the effects of CBD when used in isolation along with a couple of exceptions.
One of the exceptions would be the use of CBD to treat seizures: CBD is the only active ingredient present in the Cannabis plant which has been signed off on by the food and drug administration – a drug called Epidiolex, which has gotten approval for the treatment of two different rare forms of epilepsy.
The people suffering from certain kinds of epilepsy when treated with Cannabis have shown tremendous health gains. Various researches on animals and a few other studies suggest that CBD can by and large help in reducing anxiety, but those are the only conditions with a lot of research done on the use of CBD in isolation.
Short form of cannabidiol, CBD is constantly gaining a reputation for being a magic elixir which can treat everything – right from depression to anxiety, acne to inflammation. Because of the fact that CBD cannot make you high unlike its counterpart tetrahydrocannabinol, researchers are trying to investigate if CBD can be used as an adjunct treatment for opioid addiction as well.
This extremely promising compound is known for helping treat conditions ranging from pain to Parkinson’s disease – so much so that people also claim that the CBD can cure ailments such as Alzheimer’s and cancer. Although there is not much clinical evidence to support these effects yet, people have been using CBD to make their conditions better.
Despite claims from people all over the world, the question that still remains is:
Does CBD oil actually help in treating human ailments?
The plain, short and crisp answer is yes it does! Doctors and patients have been going ahead and cashing out on CBD oil. If you ask the consumers and the doctor who practice CBD about what is it good for, they will read you a long list of ailments it can help you cope up with: inflammation, nausea, pain, intestinal cramps, vomiting, psychosis, hyperactive immune system, muscle spasms, anxiety, elevated blood sugar, nervous system degeneration and much more.
There are also claims that suggest that CBD oil is anti-cancerous in nature and can help in regenerating the brain cells. In addition to that, CBD oil can also reduce the levels of amyloid-beta in our brain which is a kind of protein that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
In case you are looking for real-time references, you won’t be able to find them in any kind of reviews published by the Journal of American Medical Association. You will have to do an extensive search on Google to understand the profound effects of CBD.
On a preliminary basis, studies found shreds of evidence that Cannabinoids can help in reducing the beta-amyloid proteins in the human brain cells – but this study was not done on people, instead, it was done on the cells which had grown in a lab.
When it comes to cancer being treated by CBD oil, FDA apparently sent warning letters to various organizations that were selling products that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat or simply cure cancer. Another use of CBD for cancer is that it reduces the after-effects of the radiation that are caused by chemotherapy.
A review published by the Frontiers in Pharmacology in a journal suggests that CBD works in order to protect the hippocampus — which happens to be the part of the brain that monitors a lot of important functions such as memory, learning, and navigation — when in our body is undergoing stressful situations. CBD oil can also help in preventing the brain cell destruction which happens to be an aftereffect of schizophrenia.
Another report suggests that there are a handful of studies with summarized that the Cannabis oil which contains CBD for THC, or both, can help in managing chronic pain. Our body has a specialized system which is called the endocannabinoid system (ECS) which is responsible for regulating some of the most important functions such as sleep, pain, appetite and immune system response.
The endocannabinoids produced by our body are actually neurotransmitters which have the ability to bind to cannabinoid receptors in our nervous system. In-depth studies show that CBD can help in reducing the chronic pain by making an impact on the endocannabinoid receptor activity while reducing the inflammation and interacting with neurotransmitters.
When THC gets exposed to the air, CBN is formed after it gets oxidized. CBN is less psychoactive and reduces the effects of THC which makes up for the reason that marijuana should always be stored in a sealed container.
The other cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant have other effects that are found to be very beneficial for medical use. Some of the uses include nausea and pain relief, cancer deductions, mental health relief and many more.
The relaxing effects of certain cannabinoids are the reason why marijuana is also used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and various other stress-related illnesses. What makes the cannabinoids different from one another is the psychological effects they produce. For instance, CBG, CBC, and CBD do not really produce any effects, whereas THC, CBN, CBDL, along with some other cannabinoids produce some psychological effects, which vary in degrees and intensity.
A 500-page report was submitted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine which explained the effects of cannabis and cannabinoids on human health. With more than 10.000 scientific abstracts available as evidence, a committee of about 15 experts coming from various walks of scientific and medical fields examined the report.
It must be noted that there are not a lot of studies that examine the effects that CBD has on an independent level and so the committee did not issue any findings of CBD from a specific point of view. That being said, the panel did draw certain conclusions about the cannabis plant and cannabinoids on a general note. It was found that there is sufficient substantial or conclusive evidence that can support the fact that cannabinoids of the cannabis plant can treat chronic pains, nausea, and vomiting which is induced by chemotherapy, multiple sclerosis-related spasticities (a kind of stiffness and muscle spasms).
This cannabinoid and cannabis investigation also shed light on the ‘moderate’ evidence that both these substances can help in treating the sleep disturbances among people who suffer from chronic pain, obstructive sleep apnea, multiple sclerosis, and fibromyalgia as well.
A certain shred of evidence also indicated that cannabis and cannabinoids can give a healthy boost to the appetite of a person as well as stem the weight loss in people with HIV/AIDS, improve the symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and anxiety.
The studies reviewed overwhelmingly found out that the pharmaceutically used preparations which are known to contain THC, which also include nabilone, dronabinol, and the whole-plant extract spray nabiximols, actually contained equal parts of CBD and THC. It is because CBD is just one of the 400 chemicals found in the cannabis plant, it is almost impossible to determine if the entire benefits of the cannabis plant can be obtained from CBD only.
To date, CBD has not been studied in isolation by a lot of researchers and has had just a handful of randomized, placebo-controlled trials (that are considered the gold standard of evidence in medical research) and the evidence remains sparse as such.
While it is rightly said that the absence of evidence is not necessarily the evidence of absence, there is a concrete reason why we do not have lots of insightful knowledge about it yet. Studying CBD is difficult because, in order to study it, a good source is needed and also, CBD is regarded as a schedule 1 drug which further limits the availability of this compound.
When CBD was studied in isolation, it was concluded that it can be used as a substitute for opioids. A lot of other clinical trials to understand the potential benefits of CBD are underway. While the studies will take a lot of years to provide any fruitful results, but they will be able to clarify both the benefits that this substance may provide and if there will be any side effects that may come with it.
Mostly, the adverse effects which have so far been associated with cannabis plants such as problems in the short-term memory, issues with judgment and coordination also come from the products which contain THC as well as CBD.
But more studies need to be taken up to fully understand for sure if CBD has fewer risks. Furthermore, studies also need to explain the most efficient way to administer and understand the optimum dosage of CBD to use – something which is not really clear right now.
How can I know if the CBD oil and products I am buying are genuine?
Apart from the warning letters, there is not a lot of federal oversight right now on the claims being made on the CBD products being sold in the market. Definitely, there are a lot of CBD product-related scams happening out there, but there are certain renowned brands that sell authentic CBD products.
To buy a genuine CBD product, you must have a piece of good knowledge about the various compounds present in the Cannabis plant, what those compounds do, how they can affect your overall health for the better good and whether they have any side effects or not.
The lack of knowledge surrounding CBD and its products — even among the medical community — can lead to misinformation and misuse. For instance, sometimes the people suffering from pain actually go by the claim that CBD oil can help reduce it.
So, what they do is, they rub CBD oil on the skin and think that it will go away. What they do not understand is that when CBD oil is rubbed on the surface of your skin, the topical CBD is not going to get absorbed in your bloodstream. It can only treat normal information much like the other topical products. Ultimately the responsibility to understand CBD oil and CBD products is on the patient, the public and health care providers to become more educated about it.
Cannamor is one of the most genuine companies to be selling 100% genuine CBD products. What makes our products genuine is the fact that we abide by the testing and labeling rules and only use the safest methods to extract pure CBD oil.
Currently, you may or may not really understand or have much knowledge about getting it from an assured source because the rules vary from state to state, and many states also require some sort of testing to actually verify that the CBD and THC levels listed on the label are hundred percent accurate. You can definitely rely on the product sold by Cannamor which is 100% natural and safe to consume. Our products or lab tested and we only sell what we claim.
The bottom line
Over the years, CBD oil has been started by researchers for its potential role in treating a lot of common health issues which also include heart disease, depression, and acne. For the people suffering from cancer, CBD can act as a natural alternative to treat the pain and symptom relief.
Even though researches on other potential health benefits of CBD oil is still underway, a lot of new therapeutic uses of this nature’s gift are left to be discovered. Despite the fact that more research needs to be done about the efficacy of CBD most of the studies indicate that it can prove to be a powerful and safe natural treatment for various health elements.
CBD as a compound can potentially offer relief to the people who suffer from chronic pain without causing dependence or intoxication. But just in case you are deciding to try out the CBD products, make sure that you know exactly where the products are being sourced from, the way they are manufactured and the way in which they are meant to be used.
