CBD Oil: What Does The Science Say?

First, a quick legal (and practical) note:

CBD and THC are both derived from the hemp or cannabis plant, but only the latter has euphoriant psychoactive effects, i.e., will get you high. We’re writing here about CBD derived from hemp and not containing THC (thus, will not get you high).

Laws and regulations differ far too much from place to place for us to try to advise here, so please check your own local laws and regulations. And also, while you’re at it, with your doctor and/or pharmacist.

As ever, this newsletter is for purposes of education and enjoyment, and does not constitute any kind of legal (or medical) advice.

With that in mind, onwards to today’s research review…

CBD for Pain Relief

CBD has been popularly touted as a pain relief panacea, and there are a lot of pop-science articles out there “debunking” this, but…

The science seems to back it up. We couldn’t find studies refuting the claim (of CBD as a viable pain relief option). We did, however, find research showing it was good against:

• some very specific kinds of chronic pain
• “difficult to treat” pain more generally

Note that that latter (itself a research review, not a single study, hence covering a lot of bases) describes it matter-of-factly, with no caveats or weasel-words, as:

“CBD, a non-euphoriant, anti-inflammatory analgesic with CB1 receptor antagonist and endocannabinoid modulating effects”

As a quick note: all of the above is about the topical use of CBD oil, not any kind of ingestion

CBD for Anxiety/Depression

There’s a well-cited study with what honestly we think was a bit of a small sample size, but compelling results within that:

A study published in the Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry tested the anxiety levels of 57 men in a simulated public speaking test.

Compared to placebo…

• Those who received 300mg of CBD experienced significantly reduced anxiety during the test.
• Those who received either 150mg or 600mg of CBD experienced more anxiety during the test than the 300mg group
• This means there’s a sweet spot to the dosage

There was also a clinical study that found CBD to have anti-depressant effects.

The methodology was a lot more robust, but the subjects were mice. We can’t have everything in one study, apparently! There is probably a paucity of human volunteers to have their brain slices looked at after tests, though.

Anyway, what makes this study interesting is that it measured quite an assortment of biological markers in the brain, and found that the CBD had a similar physiological effect to the antidepressant imipramine.

CBD for Treating Opioid Addiction

There are a lot of studies for this, both animal and human, but we’d like to put the spotlight on a human study (with the participation of heroin users) that found:

❝Within one week, CBD significantly reduced cravings, anxiety, resting heart rate, and salivary cortisol levels. No serious adverse effects were found.❞

This is groundbreaking because the very thing about heroin is that it’s so addictive and the body rapidly needs more and more of it. You might think “duh”, but most people don’t realize this part:

Heroin is attractive because it offers (and delivers) an immediate guaranteed “downer”, instant relaxation… with none of the bad side effects of, for example, alcohol. No nausea, no hangover, nothing.

The problem is that the body gets tolerant to heroin very quickly, meaning your doses need to get bigger and more frequent to have the same effect.

Before you know it, what seemed like an affordable “self-medication for a stressful life” is very much out of control! Many doctors have personally found this out the hard way.

So, it’s ruinous:

• first to your financial health, as the costs rapidly spiral
• then to your physical health, as you either suffer from withdrawal or eventually overdose

Consequently, heroin is an incredibly easy drug to get hooked onto, and incredibly difficult to get back off.

So CBD offering relief is really a game-changer.

Read it for yourself here!

And more…

CBD has been well-studied and found to be effective for a lot of things, more than we could hope to cover in a single edition here.

Some further reading that may interest you includes:

• CBD against Diabetes in mice / in vitro / in humans
• CBD against neurological diseases (in general, in humans)
• CBD against arthritis in mice / in humans
• CBD specifically against the pain of rheumatoid arthritis / of osteoarthritis

Let us know if there’s any of these (or other) conditions you’d like us to look more into the CBD-related research for, because there’s a lot! You can always hit reply to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom

Read (and shop, if you want and it’s permitted where you are):

10 Best CBD Oils of 2023, According to the Forbes Health Advisory Board

Five Flavors Of Good Health

Schisandra chinensis, henceforth Schisandra, is also called the “five flavor fruit”, for covering the culinary bases of sweet, salt, bitter, sour, and pungent.

It can be eaten as a fruit (small red berries), juiced from the fruit, or otherwise extracted into supplements (dried powder of the fruit being a common one).

It has long enjoyed usage in various traditional medicines, especially in China and Siberia.

So, what are its health claims, and how does the science stack up?

Menopause

Most of the studies are mouse studies, and we prefer studies on humans, so here’s a small (n=36) randomized clinical trial that concluded…

❝Schisandra chinensis can be a safe and effective complementary medicine for menopausal symptoms, especially for hot flushes, sweating, and heart palpitations❞

~ Dr. Joon Young Park & Dr. Kye Hyun Kim

Read more: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Schisandra chinensis for menopausal symptoms

Antioxidant (and perhaps more)

Like many berries, it’s a good source of lignans offering antioxidant effects:

Antioxidant Effects of Schisandra chinensis Fruits and Their Active Constituents

Lignans usually have anticancer effects too (which is reasonably, given what is antioxidant is usually anticancer and anti-inflammatory as well, by the same mechanism) but those have not yet been studied in schisandra specifically.

Antihepatotoxicity

In other words, it’s good for your liver. At least, so animal studies tell us, because human studies haven’t been done yet for this one. The effect is largely due to its antioxidant properties, but it seems especially effective for the liver—which is not surprising, giving the liver’s regeneration mechanism.

Anyway, here’s a fascinating study that didn’t even need to use the fruit itself, just the pollen from the plant, it was that potent:

Antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of Schisandra chinensis pollen extract on CCl4-induced acute liver damage in mice

Athletics enhancer

While it’s not yet filling the shelves of sports nutrition stores, we found a small (n=45) study with healthy post-menopausal women who took either 1g of schisandra (experimental group) or 1g of starch (placebo group), measured quadriceps muscle strength and resting lactate levels over the course of a 12 week intervention period, and found:

❝Supplementation of Schisandra chinensis extract can help to improve quadriceps muscle strength as well as decrease lactate level at rest in adult women ❞

~ Dr. Jin Kee Park et al.

Read more: Effect of Schisandra Chinensis Extract Supplementation on Quadriceps Muscle Strength and Fatigue in Adult Women: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Anti-Alzheimers & Anti-Parkinsons

The studies for this are all in vitro, but that’s because it’s hard to find volunteers willing to have their brains sliced and looked at under a microscope while they’re still alive.

Nevertheless, the results are compelling, and it seems uncontroversial to say that schisandra, or specifically Schisandrin B, a compound it contains, has not only anti-inflammatory properties, but also neuroprotective properties, and specifically blocks the formation of excess amyloid-β peptides in the brain (which are critical for the formation of amyloid plaque, as found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients):

The influence of Schisandrin B on a model of Alzheimer’s disease using β-amyloid protein Aβ1-42-mediated damage in SH-SY5Y neuronal cell line and underlying mechanisms

Is it safe?

For most people, yes! Some caveats:

• As it can stimulate the uterus, it’s not recommended if you’re pregant.
• Taking more than the recommended amount can worsen symptoms of heartburn, GERD, ulcers, or other illnesses like that.

And as ever, do speak with our own doctor/pharmacist if unsure, as your circumstances may vary and we cannot cover all possibilities here.

Where can I get some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon

Enjoy!