The Truth About CBD Oil

We get the lowdown from the experts on this controversial cannabis-plant ingredient

- Eve Boggenpoel

Feeling stressed? Living with joint pain? Suffering the effects of SAD? Some experts believe you’ll find all the relief you need from the humble cannabis plant.

CBD, is a cannabinoid, one of many active chemicals that naturally occur in the cannabis sativa plant. Unlike its psychoactive component, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which gives marijuana users a ‘high’, CBD oil is extracted from the non-drug strains of the plant.

The oil first made headlines when the parents of a five-year-old girl from Colorado, USA, reduced their daughter’s grand mal seizures from around 300 a week to almost zero using high-strength doses of the oil. Fast-forward five years and not only has the compound been legalised, this November it became available on prescription as a pharmaceutical drug for the first time in the UK. Now CBD supplements are flooding the market, so what’s the truth behind the health claims – and could it be of benefit for you?

‘CBD oil is one of the most helpful supplements to become available in a long time says Dr Sarah Brewer. ‘It’s right up there with turmeric and ubiquinol. It’s highly antioxidant, so has anti-inflammatory effects on joints to improve pain and stiffness, and an analgesic effect to reduce pain perception in the brain.’

WHAT THE SCIENCE SAYS

There’s plenty of research to back up therapeutic claims made by users, too. A review of studies published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found evidence to suggest CBD is a potent inhibitor of both cancer growth and spread, while research in the journal Neurotherapeutics reported that the compound ‘conclusively demonstrates’ an ability to reduce generalised anxiety, panic attacks, seasonal affective disorder and post-traumatic stress.