7 Most Compelling CBD Studies So Far

For nearly an entire century, cannabis was completely prohibited federally, and if scientists and doctors wanted to study it, they had to put their licenses, careers, and livelihoods on the line. Not only has there historically been little to no funding available for clinical cannabis research, but the United States government has made it exceptionally difficult for scientists to use any form of cannabis in a lab.

Fortunately, thanks to rapidly changing legislation, more and more studies are coming out, seemingly by the minute. Now that CBD and hemp are legal at the federal level and money is pouring into the cannabis sector, we can expect to see tons of research coming up in the United States. (Keep in mind that other countries have had an easier time studying CBD — Israel in particular has been a leader in cannabis research)

2018 was a big year for CBD research thanks to the Farm Bill. Ahead are some of the biggest pieces of research that came out in the past year, and what they mean for our understanding of this natural, plant-based medicine.

How CBD May Reverse the Effects of Epilepsy

One big study came out in spring of 2018 — particularly highlighting the pharmaceutical use of CBD to treat epilepsy. The British Journal of Pharmacology published said study, which was conducted on rats in the United Kingdom. The findings indicated that “CBD restores excitability and morphological impairments in epileptic models to pre‐epilepsy control levels through multiple mechanisms to reinstate normal network function.” In other words, CBD may reverse damage caused by epileptic seizures.

How CBD Might Prevent and Treat Effects of Schizophrenia

Frontiers in Pharmacology published a schizophrenia-based study in August of 2018 that resulted in “pre-clinical evidence for a safe and beneficial effect of peripubertal and treatment with CBD on preventing positive and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.”

Conducted on rats, this study indicated that treating patients around the time of puberty may potentially prevent schizophrenia. The study stated that in past studies, “treatment with CBD in schizophrenia patients results in a significant clinical improvement,” and that “the present study reinforces and extends the beneficial and safe preventive effects of peripubertal treatment with CBD on halting the emergence of behavioral abnormalities that mimic the positive and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.”

How CBD Plays a Role in Reducing Anxiety and Improving Sleep

A study conducted in 2018 was just published in January of 2019 in The Permanente Journal from Kaiser. This one in particular is powerful because it observed humans, not rats (though the study was not controlled). The group comprised 72 adults, and analyzed the effects of CBD on sleep and anxiety. In this group, anxiety scores decreased for nearly 80-percent of the patients, and sleep scores improved in roughly 67-percent of the patients. CBD was well tolerated in over 95-percent of the patients; the side effects reported seemed to be things like dry eye.

Another component that makes this study interesting is that the dose was considerably lower than in former trials — 25 to 175 milligrams per day as opposed to 300 to 600 (or more), indicating that patients may not necessarily need an exorbitant amount of CBD to see psychiatric results.

How CBD Can Prevent Alcohol and Drug Relapse

Scientists and the global community alike are intrigued with how CBD may play a role in combating the opioid crisis. In 2018, the journal Neuropsychopharmacology reported that CBD could potentially reduce (attenuate) drug-seeking behaviors. The most exciting piece of information shared was that there were positive “long-lasting effects with only brief treatment.”

Looking at rats, the findings concluded that “CBD reduced experimental anxiety and prevented the development of high impulsivity in rats with an alcohol dependence history.” In addition, “CBD attenuated context-induced and stress-induced drug seeking without tolerance, sedative effects, or interference with normal motivated behavior.” These results are quite promising when it comes to how CBD may affect humans who struggle with addiction.

How CBD Can Mitigate the Intoxication of THC

If you’ve been wanting to try THC for medicinal purposes but don’t want to experience the euphoric intoxication (head high), then this study will be particularly exciting for you.

The journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research showed that patients who smoked cannabis, which includes the phytocannabinoid THC, reported “reduced euphoria when smoking cannabis,” after they had used CBD. In effect, CBD may allow you to reap the benefits of THC without the high.

CBD Has Mild (or No) Side Effects, But Works Better With Food

GW Pharmaceuticals conducted research that was published in late 2018 to look at the potential side effects of CBD, and found that even extremely high doses were safe. “CBD at doses up to 6000 mg was well tolerated,” and “Most [adverse effects] were mild in severity; none were severe or serious,” according to the study. “The safety and [study] support twice-daily administration of CBD.”

Another interesting finding was food’s impact on CBD’s absorption and efficacy. “ Food increased the bioavailability of CBD and, as such, administering CBD with food would maximize bioavailability and likely reduce within-day fluctuation in systemic exposure to drug.”

How CBD Extract Differs From Isolate

Frontiers in Neurology published a study that focused on CBD for epilepsy (which found that “treatment with CBD-based products significantly reduces seizure frequency, even for this otherwise treatment-resistant population”), but there were some interesting findings about how CBD isolate differs from hemp/CBD extract.

Essentially, there were more side effects with isolate than there were with extracts. “Mild adverse effects were more frequent in products containing purified CBD that in CBD-rich extracts,” the study found. “The most common adverse events reported were appetite alteration, sleepiness, gastrointestinal disturbances/diarrhea, weight changes, fatigue, and nausea.”

However, the findings when it came to epilepsy not only showed that seizures were reduced, but “reports about improvement in ‘secondary’ health aspects were very common,” — apparently “they provide a significant improvement in quality of life for patients and their family members,” and included things like better sleep, improved mood, less aggression, and improved awareness.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.