Balance September 2019 - 37

BODY & SOUL
CB-DARING

BEHIND
THE BUZZ
OF CBD
What do you really know about CBD?
Dr Julie Moltke reveals all

D

uring the past few years,
the oft-uttered phrase
"CBD" has become a
wellness buzzword in
amongst other such words as "gut
microbiome", "keto diet" and
"celery juices". During the rise
of this "CBDiction", you might
have wondered how (and if)
CBD actually works.
As a trained medical doctor
with years of experience in
reading scientific publications,
I can assure you right now
CBD is not an easy topic to get
your head around. From the
possible health applications to
understanding dosage issues,
the information available
online is almost infinite, and
very inconsistent. So, let me
introduce you to CBD; a
plant with the recorded medical use
of more than 5,000 years...

MISSION CONTROL

Cannabidiol, better known as CBD,
comes from the cannabis plant and
it is the second most abundant of
the 144 phytocannabinoids found
in the plant. CBD was discovered
in 1940, but it wasn't until Professor
Raphael Mechoulam, the Godfather
of cannabis research, uncovered the
endocannabinoid system in 1992
that we started to understand how
cannabis works in the human body.
The endocannabinoid is part of
our nervous system, and one of the
most important regulatory systems
in our body. You find this working
in our brain, gut, immune cells,
reproductive organs and even in
our skeleton.
We produce endocannabinoids
in our body, a signal molecule
that binds to the docking sites
(receptors) and controls the
endocannabinoids system. CBD
and other cannabinoids work

by binding to the endocannabinoid
receptors, thereby modulating
processes controlled by the
endocannabinoid system like sleep,
mood, memory, pain, appetite,
reproduction and muscle tone.

A TON OF RESEARCH

Research into Cannabis has been
happening for almost 100 years. The
question is, where do we have the
best clinical evidence supporting
the benefits of CBD?
One of its most well-documented
effects is its amazing ability to act
as an anti-convulsant (decreasing
seizures). This property has also
been one of the main factors driving
CBD and medicinal cannabis to
the point where we are today; no
government with respect for itself
would let children with treatmentresistant epilepsy suffer in vain. This
was the exact reason why medicinal
cannabis became legal in the UK
in November 2018, even though
patient access is still minimal.
Let's jump to another potential
application for CBD. Have you
ever felt like your head was
full of worries about the future,
or ruminations about the past?
If so, you might have experienced
one of the most common
mental health issues

around today; anxiety. I believe
anxiety and stress are some of the
major categories where CBD
can offer a potential reduction
in symptoms.

REAL RESULTS

You can conduct research in
multiple different ways, but the
gold standard are randomised
controlled trials (RCT). Most drugs
prescribed today have been tested
in this way.
These studies are often
expensive and difficult to carry
out, and it is safe to say we do not
swim in RCTs when it comes to
cannabis. However, in an RCT
study from 2011, patients with

social anxiety disorder (SAD)
were either given a dose of CBD
or a placebo drug. The participants
then took part in a social speaking
simulation, and their anxiety levels,
measured by different parameters
were assessed.
The group who received CBD
showed significantly lower levels
of anxiety than the placebo group.
Participants here were given a
single 600mg dose of CBD before
the speaking test. Most people who
use CBD today take much smaller
doses, but more regularly.
These are just a few of many
published studies (and there are
currently in excess of 800 more
underway). The question is whether

37
Balance September 2019

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