CBD Benefits vs Health Issues

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People tend to use prescription or over-the-counter drugs to relieve stiffness and pain, including chronic pain. Some people believe that CBD offers a more natural alternative. Authors of a studyTrusted Source published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine found that CBD significantly reduced chronic inflammation and pain.  The researchers suggested CBD, could provide a new treatment for chronic pain.

Some promising evidence suggests that CBD use may help people to quit smoking. A pilot studyTrusted Source published in Addictive Behaviors found that smokers who used inhalers containing CBD smoked fewer cigarettes than usual and had no further cravings for nicotine. A similar review,Trusted Source published in Neurotherapeutics found that CBD may be a promising treatment for people with opioid addiction disorders. The researchers noted that CBD reduced some symptoms associated with substance use disorders. These included anxiety, mood-related symptoms, pain, and insomnia. More research is necessary, but these findings suggest that CBD may help to prevent or reduce withdrawal symptoms.

After researching the safety and effectiveness of CBD oil for treating epilepsy, the FDA approved the use of CBD (Epidiolex) as a therapyTrusted Source for two rare conditions characterized by epileptic seizures in 2018.

In the U.S., a doctor can prescribe Epidiolex to treat:

• Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), a condition that appears between the ages of 3 and 5 years and involves different kinds of seizures
• Dravet syndrome (DS), a rare genetic condition that appears in the first year of life and involves frequent, fever-related seizures

The types of seizures that characterize LGS or DS are difficult to control with other types of medication.

The FDA specified that doctors could not prescribe Epidiolex for children younger than 2 yearsTrusted Source. A physician or pharmacist will determine the right dosage based on body weight.

Researchers are studying the effects of CBD on various neuropsychiatric disorders. Findings suggested that CBD may also treat many complications linked to epilepsy, such as neurodegeneration, neuronal injury, and psychiatric diseases.

Another study,Trusted Source published in Current Pharmaceutical Design, found that CBD may produce effects similar to those of certain antipsychotic drugs, and that the compound may provide a safe and effective treatment for people with schizophrenia. 

Some researchers have found that CBD may prove to combat cancer. Authors of a reviewTrusted Source published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found evidence that CBD significantly helped to prevent the spread of cancer. The researchers also noted that the compound tends to suppress the growth of cancer cells and promote their destruction.

They pointed out that CBD has low levels of toxicity. They called for further research into its potential as an accompaniment to standard cancer treatments.

Doctors often advise people with chronic anxiety to avoid cannabis, as THC can trigger or amplify feelings of anxiousness and paranoia.

However, authors of a reviewTrusted Source from Neurotherapeutics found that CBD may help to reduce anxiety in people with certain related disorders. According to the review, CBD may reduce anxiety-related behaviors in people with conditions such as:

• post-traumatic stress disorder
• general anxiety disorder
• panic disorder
• social anxiety disorder
• obsessive-compulsive disorder

 No further definitive evidence currently links CBD to adverse effects, and the authors called for further studies of the compound as a treatment for anxiety.

Type 1 diabetes results from inflammation that occurs when the immune system attacks cells in the pancreas.

ResearchTrusted Source published in 2016 by Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation found that CBD may ease this inflammation in the pancreas. This may be the first step in finding a CBD-based treatment for type 1 diabetes. A paper presented in the same year in Lisbon, Portugal, suggested that CBD may reduce inflammation and protect against or delay the development of type 1 diabetes.

Acne treatment is another promising use for CBD. The condition is caused, in part, by inflammation and overworked sebaceous glands in the body. A 2014 studyTrusted Source published by the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that CBD helps to lower the production of sebum that leads to acne, partly because of its anti-inflammatory effect on the body. Sebum is an oily substance, and overproduction can cause acne. CBD could become a future treatment for acne vulgaris, the most common form of acne.

Initial research published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found that CBD was able to prevent the development of social recognition deficit in participants. This means that CBD could help people in the early stages of Alzheimer's to keep the ability to recognize the faces of people that they know. This is the first evidence that CBD may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.