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They are everywhere, in your supermarket, at the chain pharmacy, even in your local pet store. The latest over-the-counter fashion in canabidiol, CBD (the main ingredient in cannabis that habit making you high), has spawned a seemingly endless stream of new products and questionable health claims.
There is a lot of hype around CBD products because they can help you overcome anxiety and make you sleep earlier, reduce the risk of dementia or treat cancer. But what do scientists say about the health benefits of CBD? And how should you be happy to buy a CBD burger or CBD candy for your dog?
To begin with, there is a need to clarify the confusing legal context in the United States, where CBD and cannabis exist.
"The real problem is that we do not have much science to translate what we see in animals and laboratories for humans."
The federal government, through the Drug Enforcement Agency, has traditionally classified the cannabis plant and all ingredients processed from it, including CBD, as Schedule 1 drugs, which means that it has no legal or medical use accepted. However, exceptions have been made at the state level for the medical and recreational use of cannabis. Last June, the Food and Drug Administration also approved a drug derived from CBD, Epidiolex, for the treatment of certain types of convulsions. And last December, the government passed a provision in its draft law on agriculture that legalized the sale and cultivation of local hemp, a variety of cannabis cultivated with less than 0.3% THC, the other component major cannabis responsible for its characteristic high level.
Despite the legalization of hemp, the status of the CBD as a consumer product remains unclear. The FDA issued a notice shortly after the adoption of the Farm Bill, stating that it still had the power to regulate all products containing CBD, regardless of their source. The agency also warned that it does not sanction the sale of CBD as a supplement, nor will it sit idly by if companies market their over-the-counter products with specific health claims. The FDA has since sent warning letters to online retailers that advertise that these products have health benefits.
A particularly egregious statement highlighted by the FDA, for example, is that CBD can help manage type 2 diabetes. However, although studies in mice have suggested a possible benefit, the only study done in humans seems to have shown that CBD does nothing to manage the essential aspect of the metabolic condition – poorly controlled blood sugar levels – in patients.
This example highlights the most flagrant flaw in CBD research to date. We do not know much about its effects, largely because of the regulatory congestion of cannabis and its derivatives that has slowed the search. The little we know often comes from studying animals.
"According to the literature on animals, or what we call preclinical research, it seems that CBD can have a wide range of therapeutic effects, ranging from a decrease in the number of animals in the body. inflammation to anxiety, pain, or substance use disorders, "Ziva Cooper, research director of the Cannabis Research Initiative of the University of California at Los Angeles, said to Gizmodo. "The real problem is that we do not have much science to translate what we see in animals and laboratories for humans."
The majority of studies on CBD for pain also included THC. We know very little about the effects of CBD on pain when it is administered by itself, in humans.
This does not mean that the CBD will not be even more medically useful than what has already been proven for some people in crisis. Nor should we neglect the experiences of people who claim that their chronic pain or anxiety has been relieved or products like oil or creams of CBD. It simply means that we are on the sidelines of understanding the effects of the CBD on health. And it is inevitable that some of the most advanced and ambitious claims on the subject will evaporate under closer scrutiny.
"What we do know is that some high doses of CBD – 300 to 1,000 milligrams – have been shown to be helpful in some indications, including schizophrenia and severe disorders of epilepsy. And there is a hint that it could also help relieve anxiety, "said Cooper. several studies and approval of Epidiolex. Cooper and others are also researching people to see if different strains of cannabis (including those that contain primarily CBD) can reduce pain better than others, as well as the dosage of opioids needed to manage this pain. .
"When I tell the public that I'm studying CAD as a pain medication or a substitute for opioids, most people will say," Do not we already know? Do not we already have this data out there and available? Cooper said. "But the truth is we do not do it. The majority of studies on CBD for pain also included THC. We know very little about the effects of CBD on pain when it is administered by itself, in people. "
Despite this potential, there is another big problem with CBD-based fashionable products that you're likely to see in your payment aisle, according to Cooper. Even though a certain dosage of CBD may help you with your anxiety or insomnia, you will probably never get as much.
"CBD-infused foods or solutions that you might find at clinics across the country will probably not contain these therapeutic doses of 300 to 1,000 milligrams. They will probably be much lower, like 10, maybe 15 milligrams, and very far from what is probably an effective dose, "she said.
If these products were filled with CBD, however, the different ways they are introduced into the body, for example if they are eaten or applied to the skin, could still have a considerable influence on how we respond to them. Topical antibiotics, for example, need to be specially formulated to pierce the hard layers of the skin to catch an infection, while nasal sprays can produce the effects of a drug faster than keeping a tablet under the tongue. And scientists do not know exactly how these differences would manifest themselves with the CBD.
"We do not know how CBD will work with all these products: lotions, creams, edibles, suppositories," Cooper said.
Products marketed with CBD also have a labeling problem. A study conducted in 2017, for example, found that only 30% of products purchased online accurately indicated the amount of CBD they possessed. Many mislabelled products had more CBD than advertised, which is not a big problem, as there is probably no dosage that can seriously harm you. But about a quarter does not have enough CBD, which basically means you're taking a placebo.
Sub-labeling is not the only risk associated with CBD products. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 50 people in Utah had been poisoned by fake CBD products that actually contained synthetic cannabinoids. These cannabinoids are used to mimic the psychoactive effects of THC in the body, not CBD, but are more potent and capable of causing serious health problems, including hallucinations and psychotic episodes.
That said, products contaminated with CBD are probably rare. And the legalization of hemp will streamline and probably improve the security of the CBD market, while accelerating research efforts. The FDA also announced that it was beginning to develop a regulatory procedure that would allow the study and commercialization of CBD in food or consumer products without any legal problems. And states like Utah are creating their own regulatory system to legally sell and label CBD-based products accurately. Given this, the CBD hype will surely advance, with financial experts estimating it will be a billion-dollar industry by 2020.
However, the science of the CBD will take some time to catch up with this hype. Cooper's hypothesis that a cannabis rich in CBD could reduce the need for potentially addictive opioids could very well be proven soon, but people already use CBD or cannabis for this purpose. And while the FDA may deny this kind of haste, it's hard to make it clear to chronic pain patients that they have few options left to absorb it and wait for a plasticized seal of approval.
You probably do not risk putting your life or your loved ones in mortal danger by buying this biscuits supplement loaded with CBD biscuits or hemp animals, as long as you do not use them to completely replace the medical treatments or ignore the recommendations of your doctors. But if you are an ordinary person and want to protect your wallet from intruders who sell useless and innovative CBD products, you should probably wait to see the evolution of science.
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