The high popularity of CBD and other cannabinoids have helped the people to think they are safe and non-intoxicating.
Despite several CBD benefits, consumers should understand the risks and learn how to use CBD-related products properly.
One of the most important issues is CBD influence upon the liver. This again became urgent due to the review published by the US Food and Drug Administration in November 2019 that CBD use carries “real risks” – some of them potentially unknown. The agency revised recommendations for the consumers concerning the safety of CBD products1.
Let’s break down what we already know and answer the questions every patient is interested in:
To study CBD hepatotoxicity, researchers conducted two experiments. The first experiment looked at acute toxicity from a single dose. The second one examined lower CBD doses over a more extended period, that means the mice got daily doses for 10 days.
In the single mega dose experiment, the mice became slow, lost their appetite and showed significant increases in liver-to-body weight ratios. This group was found to have higher levels of enzymes ALT and AST which are markers for liver damage.
The mice getting the lower doses daily showed changes in body weight, increase in liver-to-body weight ratio and exhibited smaller increases in the liver enzymes ALT and AST. 2 out of 10 mice taking lower doses didn’t show any signs of toxicity over the course of the experiment.
This experiment helped to reach to the conclusion that some CBD users taking high doses may suffer from liver toxicity2.
It is worth noticing that there are not many studies regarding the effect of CBD on the liver. Further, experiments on mice have limited importance for humans as people use CBD in much lower doses. As one can guess, giving mega doses to mice in a lab is not challenging – and extremely high doses can have completely different kind of effects.
Nonetheless, the studies do indicate a need for caution; it is especially true for those living with liver diseases or already taking multiple medications.
To feel safe and obtain the best results on CBD-related products, the users should follow the following recommendations:
To conclude, one study does show that CBD may cause liver damage. However, these findings have limitations and no other researches make similar suggestions. However, you must be careful about which product you choose and what dose you take.
References
2021 ©
SUBMIT A COMMENT