Benefits of CBD
1. CBD Relieves Pain and Inflammation
Are there CBD oil benefits for pain? Among common CBD benefits, natural pain relief tops the list for many people. Evidence suggests that cannabinoids may prove useful in pain modulation by inhibiting neuronal transmission in pain pathways. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine found that CBD significantly suppressed chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain in rodents without causing analgesic tolerance. Researchers suggest that CBD and other non-intoxicating components of marijuana may represent a novel class of therapeutic agents for the treatment of chronic pain.
2. CBD Oil’s Benefits Include Antipsychotic Effects
Research shows that benefits of CBD oil may include producing antipsychotic effects. It appears to have a pharmacological profile similar to that of atypical antipsychotic drugs, as seen in using behavioral and neurochemical techniques in animal studies. Additionally, studies show that CBD may prevent human experimental psychosis and is effective in open case reports and clinical trials in patients with schizophrenia, with a remarkable safety profile for people.
3. CBD Oil Reduces Anxiety
Studies using animal models of anxiety and involving healthy volunteers clearly suggest an anxiolytic-like, anxiety-reducing effect of cannabidiol. CBD oil for anxiety works, as it’s been shown to reduce anxiety in patients with social anxiety disorder — researchers suggest that it may also be effective for panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
4. CBD Oils May Offer Natural Cancer Treatment
CBD oil uses include cancer, as several scientific reports demonstrate that CBD benefits include possessing antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic effects that inhibit cancer cell migration, adhesion and invasion.
A 2006 study published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics found for the first time that CBD potently and selectively inhibited the growth of different breast tumor cell lines and exhibited significantly less potency in non-cancer cells. In 2011, researchers added light on the cellular mechanism through which CBD induces cell death in breast cancer cells. They showed that CBD may induce a concentration-dependent cell death of both estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cells. They also found that the effective concentrations of CBD in tumor cells have little effect on non-tumorigenic, mammary cells.
CBD behaves as a non-toxic compound and studies show that doses of 700 milligrams per day for six weeks did not show any overt toxicity in humans, suggesting that it can be used for prolonged treatment. Research shows that CBD benefits include fighting breast cancer cells, plus it may inhibit the invasion of lung and colon cancer for people. CBD also possesses anti-tumor properties in gliomas and has been used to treat leukemia.
5. CBD Use Helps Relieve Nausea
Cannabis has been used for centuries for the suppression of nausea and vomiting. Research has revealed that among more than 80 cannabinoid compounds found in marijuana, both the intoxicant THC and the non-intoxicant CBD helps to get rid of nausea and vomiting in animal studies.
A 2012 study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology found that benefits of CBD oil may include possessing anti-nausea and antiemetic effects when it was administered to rats. Researchers found that CBD acts in a diphasic manner, meaning that in low doses it suppresses toxin-induced vomiting, but in high doses it increases nausea or has no effect.
6. CBD Oil May Treat Seizures and Other Neurological Disorders
A 2014 survey conducted by researchers at Stanford University was presented to parents belonging to a Facebook group dedicated to sharing information about the use of cannabidiol-enriched cannabis to treat their child’s seizures.
Nineteen responses met the inclusion criteria for the study: a diagnosis of epilepsy and current use of CBD-enriched cannabis. The average number of anti-epileptic drugs tried before using CBD cannabis was 12. Sixteen (84 percent) of the 19 parents reported a reduction in their child’s seizure frequency while taking CBD cannabis. Of these, two (11 percent) reported complete seizure freedom, eight (42 percent) reported a greater than 80 percent reduction in seizure frequency, and six (32 percent) reported a 25–60 percent seizure reduction. Other beneficial effects included increased alertness, better mood and improved sleep; while side effects included drowsiness and fatigue. Later in 2014, researchers reported on preliminary study results involving children with treatment-resistant epilepsies in an expanded access “compassionate use program.” Patients received a purified 98 percent oil-based CBD extract called Epidiolex, which is made by GW Pharmaceuticals. After three months of treatment, 39 percent of the 23 patients had more than a 50 percent reduction in seizures, with a 32 percent median reduction.
These preliminary results support the animal studies and survey reports that CBD may be a promising treatment for treatment-resistant epilepsy, and it is generally well-tolerated in doses up to 25 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
7. CBD May Lower Incidence of Diabetes
A 2006 study found that CBD treatment significantly reduced the incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice from an incidence of 86 percent in non-treated mice to an incidence of 30 percent in CBD-treated mice. CBD benefits also showed a significant reduction of plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. A histological examination of the pancreatic islets of the CBD-treated mice revealed significantly reduced insulitis.
In 2013, the American Journal of Medicine published a study that highlighted the impact of marijuana use on glucose, insulin and insulin resistanceamong U.S. adults. The study included 4,657 adult men and women from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey from 2005 to 2010.
Of the people in the study, 579 were current marijuana users and 1,975 were past users. The researchers found that current marijuana use was associated with 16 percent lower fasting insulin levels. They also found significant associations between marijuana use and smaller waist circumferences, a factor connected to the onset of diabetes symptoms.
8. CBD Offers Cardiovascular Health Benefits
A 2013 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology reports that CBD protects against the vascular damage caused by a high glucose environment, inflammation or the induction of type 2 diabetes in animal models; plus, CBD proved to reduce the vascular hyperpermeability (which causes leaky gut health problems) associated with such environments.