One area in which there has in fact been a great deal of interest in terms of clinical research is pain relief. There have certainly been very promising results thus far.

There are two key processes that allow CBD to provide highly effective pain relief.

The endocannabinoid system is where the first of these processes occurs. CBD delivered into the bloodstream via a transdermal patch will work collaboratively with the body’s endocannabinoid system to prevent pain receptors from sending pain signals to the brain. This is of particular use in pain revolving around the nervous system, such as fibromyalgia. This allows valuable respite for the user as they are able to essentially ‘forget’ about the pain while the CBD goes to work.

This is another reason why CBD pain patches are so popular. They provide a consistent dose of CBD over a 24-hour period, allowing the user to experience pain relief over a substantial period of time and live a far more ‘normal’ life. This is very different to products such as oils or capsules which have to be taken multiple times a day and offer less stability in terms of pain relief.

The second of the aforementioned pain relief processes is centred around the prominent anti-inflammatory properties of CBD. This reduces the level of pain that a user would expect to feel from various types of inflammation, such as that which is caused by arthritis.

One particularly interesting study that relates to both of the above processes, found that CBD was an effective reliever of chronic pain in rats who suffered from both neuropathic and inflammatory pain.

A 2020 meta review of literature available on cannabis and CBD in relation to chronic pain management also noted the therapeutic potential of CBD as a pain reliever. However, it did also state that more research was required as a significant proportion of existing studies used CBD in conjunction with THC.

A further meta review carried out in 2017 looked into selective cannabinoids for chronic neuropathic pain relief. Specifically, they analysed 11 randomised controlled trials consisting of 1219 patients. They stated that CBD provided effective analgesic benefits to patients suffering with chronic neuropathy.  

There are as many as 16 million adults in the UK that have difficulty sleeping at night, which equates to roughly 67% of all adults! There is no doubt that a good night’s sleep brings significant benefits the next day and on the contrary, a poor night of sleep can transform the subsequent day into a real slog. With over 1 million adults in the UK regularly use sleeping pills to promote sleep, something has to change.

This is where CBD can significantly change the state of play. Initial research has produced incredibly promising results when it comes to sleep.

One single blind study conducted in 2012 found that CBD did indeed improve sleep. One group were given a placebo, while the other group were given 160mg of CBD. The latter group benefitted from increased sleep duration.

Increased cortisol levels during the night are one of the key contributors to insomnia. A slightly older study from 1993 found that CBD significantly reduced cortisol production and promoted a normal, healthy circadian rhythm. This naturally increased the quality of participants’ sleep.

A more recent study conducted in 2019 is one of the largest ever conducted into CBD and sleep and involved 72 adult patients. All of the patients involved in the study had existing difficulties when it comes to sleep. Of these 72 patients, 48 patients (66.7%) improved their sleep scores within the first month of use.

Sleep is another area in which CBD patches have an advantage over their counterparts due to their consistent 24-hour delivery method. This means that CBD has built up in your system over the course of the day and you do not need to replace the patch until the next morning, or indeed worry about the effects of the CBD wearing off in the middle of the night and disturbing your sleep.

There are between 1.25 and 3.4 million people in the UK struggling with eating disorders. Additionally, with an increased emphasis placed on body image and weight in recent years due to the prevalence of social media, our appetite has never been of greater concern.

Research into CBD and weight change is certainly less developed than in other areas and a great deal more is required. That said, some very interesting findings have already been made from the minimal research that has been completed.

For instance, we are fairly certain that CBD affects our weight by interacting with CBD1 and CB2 receptors in both lymphoid tissue and the brain. Both receptors play crucial roles in food intake and metabolism.

One particular study conducted in 2012 found that the rats that were used as subjects experienced a substantial reduction in food intake when compared to other cannabinoids such as CBG and CBN.

There is also a growing bank of research suggesting that CBD promotes the ‘browning’ of fat cells. To explain this, we should note that there are two types of fat cells in the human body – white and brown.

White fat cells are the more dominant type. These are responsible for both the usage and storage of energy, as well as the insulation of internal organs. An excessive number of white fat cells can also lead to chronic illnesses, including heart disease and diabetes.

Brown cells on the flip side, burn calories and thus generate heat. Overweight individuals tend to have less brown fat cells than those of a healthier weight. White fat cells can be converted into brown fat cells through exercise and healthy sleep patterns. Initial research suggests that CBD may promote this process.

One notable study carried out in 2016 found that this to be the case. The main caveat here was that this was a test-tube study and not conducted in either animals or humans. The case remains that further clinical research is required.  

Muscle spasms, otherwise known as muscle cramps, take place when your muscle(s) involuntarily contracts and remains that way for a period of time, with the individual unable to relax the muscle.

Muscle spasms can often produce incredibly intense pain and are often visibly distorted, which can be disconcerting for the sufferer. Muscle spasms are also one of the most common symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and can be exceptionally debilitating for the individual.

Muscle spasms occur as a result of chemical messengers, sent by the central nervous system to a particular muscle, forcing it to contract. A deficiency in endocannabinoids means that the body cannot deter these excessive chemical messengers, leading to a constant contraction of the muscle(s).

CBD directly combats this by not only disrupting the flow of the aforementioned chemical messengers, but also promoting muscle relaxation and ultimately reducing muscle spasms.

One particular study referenced in ‘The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research’ noted that even short term use of CBD in adults with multiple sclerosis-related muscle spasticity improved their symptoms. 

http://doi.org/10.1177/0269881110379283The Mental Health Foundation state that in 2013 there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK, with women almost twice as likely to be diagnosed than men. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has led to a recent surge in these numbers as millions have been locked in their homes for over a year.

Anxiety has been one of the primary areas of research for CBD and for good reason. Once we have explained how CBD can combat anxiety, we will reference a few of the most successful studies that have been carried out in recent years.

Firstly, it is believed that CBD interacts with CBD1 receptors in the brain in order to modify serotonin signals. Low levels of serotonin are said to cause anxiety as well as depression.
There are of course a multitude of forms when it comes to anxiety, but generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is thought to be the most common. A 2015 study by Nora D. Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that CBD reduced stress in animals, including rats. Both their behavioural and physiological signs of anxiety improved, including a decreased heart rate, less sweating and steadier breathing.

CBD has also been shown to be effective in the treatment of social anxiety disorder (SAD). In a 2011 study into the anxiolytic effects of CBD in individuals suffering with SAD, results suggested that participants who received CBD experienced overall reduced anxiety levels.  

Inflammation is the body’s natural protective response to being harmed. There’s two different types of inflammation.

The first of these is known as acute inflammation, which occurs when the immune system releases immune cells to the area of the body affected by injury, infection or illness. This typically causes swelling and redness.

The second type of inflammation is called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is a prolonged inflammatory response. This can result in oxidative stress, caused by an imbalance between antioxidants and free radicals. This can harm both tissues and organs.

One of the most prominent studies into CBD an inflammation was carried out in 2015. This found that joint swelling and pain experienced by rats was dramatically reduced when they were treated with a topical CBD gel.

Shortly after this, a study published in Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation in 2016 examined the use of CBD as a preventative treatment for pancreatic inflammation in diabetic mice. Pancreatic inflammation causes immune cells to attack and ultimately destroy insulin-producing cells. One group of mice received a 10-week treatment with CBD and another group did not. The mice who were treated with CBD not only developed diabetes much later, but they also experienced a reduction in immune cell activity. This leads to the conclusion that CBD is an effective anti-inflammatory when it comes to mice.

There is no doubt that there is a plethora of promising clinical studies that have been conducted into the anti-inflammatory properties of CBD. That said, they have largely been restricted to animal studies, so it will be incredibly fascinating to see how these findings translate to human studies at a later date.

Nausea is the feeling of unease in your stomach that typically precedes vomiting. While there is a wide array of causes when it comes to nausea, the vast majority of CBD and medicinal cannabis research has centred around cancer patients.

Specifically, research has focused on patients undergoing intrusive treatments such as chemotherapy that can result in acute, prolonged nausea and/or vomiting before, during or after the treatment. Normally doctors will prescribe anti-emetic drugs such as ondansetron and aprepitant, which often come with their own harsh side effects including hallucinations, convulsions and loss of hearing. In many cases, they can even be completely ineffective or worse, exacerbate the nausea and cause further vomiting.

Consequently, this has led to many patients seeking alternative medicine of a more natural kind. The most common of these has been cannabis and CBD. UK interest in the area has been growing since the UK government legalised medicinal cannabis in 2018.

The process of acquiring medicinal cannabis is incredibly complex in reality. Many doctors are reluctant to prescribe it and you have to have tried a plethora of alternative treatments beforehand.

This means that many are turning to CBD, the non-psychoactive component of cannabis, which is far more accessible in the UK.

From the little research that does exist, THC has been found to be more effective in the combatting of nausea and vomiting than CBD. Hence, one should opt for full-spectrum CBD products that contain trace elements of THC (below the legal 0.2% THC limit).

That said, this stance largely endures due to the lack of research on CBD in relation to nausea. This is slowly reversing though and there are still a handful of illuminating studies that have made some interesting findings in this particular domain.

One particular study carried out in 2011 looked into specifically how CBD comabts nausea caused by chemotherapy. The findings suggested that serotonin is released by the small intestine when the body is infiltrated by chemotherapeutic agents. CBD inhibits this production of serotonin by binding to serotonin receptors and reducing the feeling of nausea.

A more recent study conducted in 2016 by Dale G Deutsch found that CBD inhibits fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) production. FAAH breaks down anandamide, which is a natural endogenous compound produced in the body. Anandamide has been shown to have properties which combats nausea. As a result, CBD hampers the decomposition of anandamide and also increased anandamide concentration, which provides further nausea relief.

Finally, CBD patches are a smart choice of delivery method for combatting nausea and vomiting. When you are feeling such symptoms the last thing you want to do is drop an earthy liquid under your tongue or swallow a capsule. A CBD patch is far more convenient and provides a consistent stream of relief.  

A number of studies have investigated the relationship between CBD and cancer cells, with some promising initial findings.

One of the first major studies that was conducted focused on breast cancer. Specifically, McAllister et al studied the effects of CBD on reducing breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis. The positive results found that ‘CBD inhibits human breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion through differential modulation’.

A more recent review study carried out in 2019 and focusing on in vitro and in vivo studies centred on pancreatic cancer. The results indicated that CBD helps to slow down tumour growth, reduce tumour invasion and ultimately promote tumour cell death.

Another study that was carried out in 2019 by Ivanov et al, looked into the effects that CBD had on human glioblastoma cells. Once again, the findings here were positive. Results indicated that CBD could not only incite the destruction of glioblastoma cells, but also increase the sensitivity of said cells in relation to radiation.

While there are a number of positive findings that have been made in relation to both direct and indirect cancer treatment, there is no doubt that further and more robust research is required.