Are you, your mother and the dog using the CBD?
They are everywhere in your supermarket, at the chain pharmacy, even in your local pet store. The latest headache health of cannabidiol, or CBD (the main ingredient of cannabis that will not make you high) has created a seemingly infinite flow of new products and dubious health claims. [19659003] There are a lot of shots around CBD products, from being able to help with anxiety and sending you to sleep before, to reduce the risk of dementia or cancer treatment. But what does science say about CBD's health benefits? And just how busy should you be about buying yourself a CBD burger or your dog, some CBD therapist?
Firstly, it is worth clarifying the confusing legal landscape of the United States where there are CBD and cannabis.
"The real problem is that we don't have much science to translate what we see in animals and laboratories into humans."
The federal government, through the Drug Enforcement Agency, has historically classified the cannabis plant and all the ingredients treated from it, including CBD, as a drug 1[ads1], which means that it is considered to have no accepted legal or medical use. But exceptions have been made at state level for both medical and recreational use of cannabis. In June, the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug derived from CBD, Epidiolex, for the treatment of certain types of seizures. And in December, the government adopted a provision in the agricultural bill that legalized the sale and growth of local hemp, a variety of cannabis grown with less than 0.3 percent of THC, the other major component of cannabis responsible for its characteristic high.
Despite the legalization of hemp, the status of CBD remains as consumer product scary. The FDA issued a notice shortly after the farm bill was adopted to clarify that it still had the authority to regulate products with CBD, regardless of their source. The agency also warned that it does not sanction the sale of CBD as an addition, nor would it be okay if companies marketed their over-the-counter products with specific health claims. The FDA has since sent notices to online stores promoting these products for specific health benefits.
A particular real claim pointed out by the FDA, for example, that CBD can help manage type 2 diabetes. However, while studies in mice have suggested a possible benefit, the only human study apparently ever showed that CBD does nothing to cope with the most important aspect of metabolic condition – poorly controlled levels of blood sugar in patients.
This example highlights the most brilliant error in CBD research to date. There is just not much we know about the effects, thanks largely to the regulatory morass around cannabis and its by-products that have slowed the investigation. The little we know often comes from studying animals.
"Based on animal literature or what we call preclinical research, it appears that CBD can have a wide range of therapeutic effects, ranging from reduced inflammation to helping with anxiety, pain or substance abuse," Ziva Cooper, Research Director of The Cannabis Research Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Gizmodo. "The real problem is we don't have much science to translate what we see in animals and laboratories into humans."
Most studies that have looked at CBD for pain have also included THC. We know very little about CBD's effects on pain when given by itself.
It does not mean that CBD will not be even more useful medical than it has already proven to be for some people with seizures. We should also not discuss experiences from people who say their chronic pain or anxiety is relieved by weeds or products such as CBD oil or creams. It just means that we are about to understand CBD's health effects. And it is inevitable that some of the rosiest, longest-running claims will evaporate during closer scrutiny.
"What we know is that certain high doses of CBD-300 to 1000 milligrams have been shown to help some indications, including schizophrenia and severe epilepsy disorders. And it is a hint that it can also help with anxiety, says Cooper, referring to several studies and the Epidiolex approval, Cooper and others are also attempting research in people who test for different cannabis strains (including those containing mostly CBD), can reduce pain better than others, and reduce the dose of opioids as needed to handle that pain.
"When I tell the public that I am studying CBD for pain, or as a substitute for opioids, most people will say" do we not already know? Do we not already have the data out there and available? " Said Cooper. "But the truth is, we don't. Most studies that have looked at CBD for pain have also included THC. We know very little about anything about CBD's effects on pain when given by itself, in humans." [19659004] Despite this potential, there is another major problem with the trendy CBD-based products you will likely see in your Cashier, according to Cooper. Although a certain dose of CBD can help with anxiety or insomnia, you are almost never so much from these products.
"CBD-infused foods or the solutions you can pick up on dispensaries across the country, probably won't contain the therapeutic, 300 to 1000 milligram doses. They'll probably be much lower, like 10, maybe 15 milligrams, and much far from what is probably an effective dose, "she said.
These products were full of CBD, but the different ways they are introduced into the body, such as being eaten or applied to the skin, can still have a dramatic influence on how we actually respond to them. Topical antibiotics, for example, must be specifically formulated to break through the hairy layers of our skin to get into an infection, while nasal sprays can deliver the effects of a substance faster than holding a tablet under the tongue. And researchers are not sure how these differences will manifest themselves with the CBD.
"We have no knowledge of how the CBD will work with all these products-lotions, creams, edibles, suppositories," Cooper said.
Products marketed with CBD also have a labeling problem. For example, a study in 2017 showed that only 30 percent of such products bought online exactly the amount of CBD they had. Many misleading products had more CBD than advertised, which is not a major problem, since there are probably no doses that can seriously harm you. But about a quarter had too little CBD, which really means you should take a placebo.
Submarking is not the only risk with CBD products. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 50 people in Utah were poisoned by counterfeit CBD products that actually contained synthetic cannabinoids. These cannabinoids are used to mimic the psychoactive effects of THC in the body, not the CBD, but are more potent and capable of causing serious health problems, including hallucinations and psychotic episodes.
Having said that, contaminated CBD products are probably rare. And hemp legalization is likely to streamline and improve the safety of the CBD market in general, as well as speeding up research efforts. The FDA has also said it is starting to develop a regulatory pathway that will allow studies and marketing of CBD in foods or consumer products without legal problems. And states like Utah create their own regulatory system for legitimate sales and accurate labeling of CBD products. Given that, the CBD hype train will surely chug ahead, with some financial experts predicting that there will be a billion dollar industry by 2020.
It will take some time for the science of the CBD to capture this hype, though. Cooper's hypothesis that CBD-heavy cannabis may reduce the need for potentially addictive opioids may well be proven soon, but people undoubtedly already use CBD or cannabis for the exact purpose right now. And while the FDA can deter that kind of speed, it's hard to tell chronic pain patients with few opportunities to suck it up and wait for a laminated approval type.
You probably do not put yourself and your loved ones in deadly danger by purchasing the CBD-loaded biscuit or hemp pet supplement, as long as you do not use them to replace standard medical treatments completely or completely without the advice of your doctors. But if you are an average person looking to keep your wallet safe from hucksters selling useless, new CBD products, you should probably wait to see how science shows up.
