CBD Products Might Work If They Contain What They Should

CBD products are more readily available every day, but the Mayo Clinic and others are wondering just how safe and effective CBD oil products can be.

Researchers found that very little is known about the effects of CBD, whether the substance is inhaled, eaten or rubbed on the body.

CBD is short for cannabidiol, a chemical in the Cannabis sativa plant, WebMD explains. Both marijuana and hemp are genetic variants of the Cannabis sativa species. When Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp and hemp products became legal in the U.S., but CBD is still not allowed to be sold as a medicine.

Advent of CBD Products

Even though CBD products have been marketed to resolve anxiety, pain, muscle disorders, Crohn’s disease, insomnia and inflammation, among other maladies, the Mayo Clinic says there is no scientific evidence to back those claims.

The only CBD-based product approved by the FDA for medicinal use is Epidiolex from GW Pharmaceuticals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the prescription to treat specific seizures caused by Dravet syndrome or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Although some patients suffering from seizures due to tuberous sclerosis complex, Sturge-Weber syndrome, febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) or certain genetic problems that induce epileptic encephalopathy found some relief from seizures when taking Epidiolex, the drug has not been approved to treat these myriad other seizures.

Mayo Clinic researchers, led by co-author and internist Karen Mauck M.D, decided to study CBD merchandise because many patients wonder if all of CBD’s purported benefits are true.

Because so little is definitively known about CBD, many doctors are not recommending patients try it, or they caution patients that if they do, it’s at their own risk. Patients want to know what those risks may be.

A large part of that answer depends upon the amount of CBD the product actually contains. In 2017, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article on the labeling accuracy of CBD extracts for sale online. Researchers found a wide range of CBD concentrations, attributed to the fact there is no single recognized accepted dose.

After reviewing 84 different CBD-containing items, the JAMA study found about one-third included labels that correctly identified the levels of CBD and THC. Their analysis found that CBD amounts were most often overstated, while THC amounts were understated.

According to the 2018 Farm Bill, CBD items must contain less than 0.3 percent THC, which is the psychoactive chemical that produces the high in marijuana. The restrictions on THC levels could explain why the chemical is so often underreported on the labels of otherwise legal CBD products.

Mayo Clinic Recommendations

The Mayo Clinic advises doctors to be curious about CBD properties, but also to be skeptical until further research is done. Researchers say doctors who keep current with the latest CBD clinical information will be able to best advise their patients on whether the substance is a good or bad idea.

Dr. Mauck said patients who want to try CBD should look closely at labels and only buy organic, legally grown CBD-based products from the U.S., and those that include a certificate verifying what the product does and doesn’t include in the formulation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.