Alcohol Harms The Liver; CBD Protects It?

Normally when we say “cannabis vs alcohol”, we’re talking about working out which is worse.

For example: Alcohol vs THC

But a new study shows how CBD can actually help protect the liver from the harms of alcohol:

Down by 40%

Researchers (Dr. Butros Fakhoury et al.) tracked more than 66,000 adults with alcohol use disorder from 2010 to 2022, dividing them into three groups based on cannabis use:

• cannabis use disorder
• non-dependent cannabis use
• no cannabis use

Now, using a population sample of 66,000 people with alcohol use disorder already avoids the potential limitation that one might expect from the headline, i.e. is it that cannabis isn’t protective, but rather, those who use cannabis are less likely to use alcohol?

Looking only at adults with alcohol use disorder neatly sidesteps this (otherwise huge) issue.

What they found, in few words:

• people with cannabis use disorder had 40% lower risk of alcohol-associated liver disease, 17% lower risk of severe liver complications, and 14% lower all-cause mortality compared with non-users
• people in the cannabis use (but not disorder) group also enjoyed a lower risk of alcohol-related liver disease, but not the other benefits.

So, paradoxically, those with cannabis use disorder got the greatest benefits! Or at least, in the category of the things looked at for this study. Outside of those it is fair to say that cannabis use disorder can invite different problems in other areas of health, and perhaps life in general. See also: What is cannabis use disorder? And how do you know if you have a problem?

And, for that matter, do see also: Cannabis Myths vs Reality ← our mythbusting edition on this topic

So, how does cannabis protect against liver damage?

Well, firstly, the researchers are assuming it’s the CBD component of the cannabis, not the THC. This is a reasonable assumption, but it is an assumption, as clinical CBD use was too limited to assess directly, so cannabis use (in other words: a mixture of cannabinoids in varying concentrations) served as a proxy; this could easily underestimate or overestimate CBD’s true effect due to interactions with other bioactive cannabis compounds, but on such a large scale, it’s probably still representative on balance.

The study was associative and doesn’t strictly prove cause and effect. However, the researchers note that causality is very plausible, based on the numbers, the lack of obvious confounding variables (at least, that could cause such a strong association, especially on such a huge scale), and the fact that CBD is known to have effects that reduce inflammation and oxidative stress within the liver, and the team notes that CBD-mediated improvement of fat handling in liver cells likely also plays a role.

Indeed, the researchers further observed that CBD appears to calm inflammation and reduce some of the chemical signals that drive liver scarring.

You can read the paper in full, here: The Cannabinoid System as a Potential Novel Target for Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease: A Propensity-Matched Cohort Study ← it’s very informative, a fascinating read, and obviously a lot more detailed than we have room to go into here.

Want to learn more?

Check out:

CBD Oil: What Does The Science Say?

Enjoy!