I was recently approached by a company by the name of Dose of Nature to test and review one of
their medical cannabis products. I get a
lot of questions these days about "medical marijuana," so I was happy to try what I could without needing a prescription of my own. And let me just say here and now that it is
not within my medical scope of practice to prescribe or recommend medical
marijuana for any patient. You need an
MD to make these recommendations. It is
silly but true. We are the herbalists
after all. But that is beside the
point. It is extremely important to
understand however that the term medical cannabis has many different meanings
and forms. We are all very aware of the
concept of smoking or ingesting marijuana and getting “high.” But the compounds in the cannabis plant primarily
responsible for this high, TCH, are not contained in the formula that I was asked
to review. The cannabis plant is an
extremely complicated medicinal herb and the research that is coming out on the
different active compounds found in this plant are nothing short of
extraordinary. And Cannabidiol or CBD
is one of those compounds and is the focus of this article. CBD products are not the ones that lead to
the typical mind altering experiences that many people know so well. And because of this CBD products are legal in
all fifty states without the prescription or recommendation of any medical
professional.
Let me first begin with my experience with the product
itself and then get into some of the science behind it. This is a liquid product that is taken with a
dropper. It is made of a CBD concentrate
and blended with Extra Virgin Hemp Seed oil.
I squirted the oil under my tongue and swallowed the rest. It had a nice taste with a little spicy bite
in the back of my throat. If you have
ever sampled higher quality Olive Oils you may have noticed the same kind of
bite. This is a good thing actually.
That’s the good stuff. It lets you know
that there are some active compounds within the oil. I urge you to take a little swig of your
current olive oil and see if it has that same bite. If not, go buy some better oil! So
from an herbalist’s perspective, right off the bat I was pleased to notice the
bite. I have taken the recommended dose
every day for the past three weeks or so and am almost through my bottle. I generally take it in the evening before bed
because I do notice that it has a very mild mellowing effect. The best that I can describe this feeling is
like someone placed a very thin calming veil over my head. I feel totally aware and not impaired in any
way, just a little more calm. I feel no
side effects of any kind otherwise.
The big deal here with CBD’s are their anti-inflammatory
effects. This is an area of research
that is really showing some serious promise.
In fact a whole new class of anti-inflammatory medications could likely
arise from these compounds if the research continues. I have had the pleasure
of consulting directly with a friend and colleague of mine Dr. Chris Rasmussen,
MD, who publishes a fantastic blog entitled InflaNATION. Stay tuned for his upcoming book as
well. It will be a must read! He has recently published some fantastic
research articles on this very subject.
And the medical literature is showing clear evidence that CBD and other
medical cannabinoids are superb anti-inflammatory compounds specifically for
the heart and vascular system. Though
the mainstream medical model is still holding steadfast onto the Cholesterol
model of heart disease, the medical literature is showing more and more that
things like heart attacks, strokes, deep venous thrombosis (clots in the legs)
and pulmonary embolism (“heart attack” of the lungs) all owe their existence to
rogue inflammatory conditions in the body.
If you want to have a heart attack or any other conditions listed above
(and more) then you invite inflammation.
One key way to inflame your body is to engage in a diet and lifestyle
that promotes blood sugar imbalance.
Diabetics and Pre-Diabetics (Insulin Resistance) for example are
inflamed by the very nature of their condition.
And when I say “inflammation” I am not talking about that swollen knee
you may have, but rather little molecules called cytokines that are made by the
immune system that circulate throughout the body and literally work to destroy
whatever they touch!
To borrow a citation from a recent post of Dr. Rasmussen:
Cannabidiol has been shown to be effective in
protecting endothelial function and integrity in human coronary artery
endothelial cells (HCAECs). The study demonstrated that CBD reversed the
harmful effects of high glucose on HCAECs by inhibiting:
- · Reactive oxygen species production by mitochondria
- · NF-κB activation
- · Transendothelial migration of monocytes
- · Monocyte–endothelial adhesion in HCAECs[1]
This is all just a really fancy way of saying
that a well-respected medical journal on Physiology and Heart health endorsed
the benefits of CBD for Insulin Resistant people presenting with vascular
disease. Vascular Disease is of course
the leading cause of death worldwide.
And anyone with Insulin Resistance / Diabetes will more than likely die
of Vascular Disease in the end, not to mention suffer more disability while on
the way. This study suggests that
compounds like CBD may act as an “antidote” of sorts to this condition.
But what if you are not in the Diabetic spectrum
of the population? Well the research out
there on the subject frequently studies a particular inflammatory cytokine
called NF-kB (listed above). NF-kB plays
a major role in other conditions as well and particularly in autoimmune disease
which is something that I work a lot with in my clinic here. There are actually more people in this
country right now suffering autoimmune disease than there are people having
heart attacks! In fact CBD therapies
have shown true promise in autoimmune conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and
Rheumatoid Arthritis. And furthermore, the
NF-kB pathway is the final step for cellular death. So the more this pathway is active the more
cells will be dying at any given moment in time. This pathway can also be particularly potent
when talking about brain health as well.
Just look at the growing epidemic of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Brain
health is a major concern for the aging population. NF-kB is at the root of all of this. So it would make a lot of sense to do
everything that you can to squash these inflammatory pathways from running away
with themselves. There iscurrently no known pharmaceutical drug that can do
this! So it is the opinion of this
particular author that you put down whatever stigma you may assign to the
notion of medical cannabis and look at the true benefits!
So getting back to what I felt when taking the
CBD oil… I personally have a known
autoimmune situation myself going on that comes up from time to time. This is not a disease but I do have
antibodies which target and attack an enzyme in my brain that converts
Glutamate, which is overly stimulating to brain tissue, into GABA which is
calming. It is quite possible that the
CBD oil is dampening some inflammatory conditions that may be impacting this
system. In essence the oil may be allowing
me to function more optimally by turning down the overactive, NF-kB driven
immune response against that enzyme in my brain. On the other hand, we are only scratching the
surface here with how these things work.
But more and more research is pointing to positives. Even the mind altering compound THC has
considerable research demonstrating the protective and beneficial properties
for many systems in the body. There is
still a tremendous amount of work needed to be done. It is all rather
exciting.
…cannabis is a source not only of D9-THC, CBD
and D9-THCV but also of at least 67
other phytocannabinoids and as such can be regarded as a natural library of
unique compounds. The therapeutic potential of many of these ligands still
remains largely unexplored prompting a need for further preclinical and
clinical research directed at establishing whether phytocannabinoids are indeed
‘a neglected pharmacological treasure
trove’ (Mechoulam, 2005).[2]
In closing, I want to be clear here that I am still a
little uneasy about suggesting that people go out and inhale hot smoke into
their lungs on a frequent basis. This
could very well be inflammatory to the body.
The research on this is still not clear.
It could be that the anti-inflammatory attributes of the compounds found
within the smoke negate some of the inflammatory impacts of the smoke itself on
the lung tissue. But that is admittedly speculation
on my part. There are however so many
other ways of getting these beneficial compounds, like CBD, into your system
without smoking the herb itself. Liquid
formulas like the Dose of Nature Red
Strap CBD Oil is a great way to get the benefits described above while
avoiding the potentially harmful impacts of smoking or the often times
debilitating and illegal (in most States) “high” that Marijuana induces.
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