Cannabidiol or cbd for dogs is a phytochemical, meaning that it is made by plants from living matter. Cannabidiol, like many other phytochemicals, has several important functions in humans and animals. Cannabidiol has been shown to have many positive aspects when used as a medicinal drug. In fact, the only reason we do not use it more often is because it is prohibited by the federal government under the Marijuana Laws. Here are some of the benefits that CBD offers:
A major reason why we use CBD today is that it has proven to have some really good health benefits. Cannabidiol has been found to be very effective in treating some serious health problems, such as cancer, seizures, depression, nausea, and various kinds of muscle spasms, including multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative eye disease, and other disorders. In fact, Cannabidiol has even been found to help in healing brain cells affected by Alzheimer’s disease, and to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in certain patients. The science behind all this is still being studied, but there is a lot of scientific evidence that cannabidiol does slow down the process of progression of MS. It also seems to offer some of the neurotherapeutic benefits that marijuana does, without the toxic side effects that are often associated with it.
Stress and anxiety are some of the most common mental disorders that people suffer from. Many scientists have been researching the use of cannabidiol in the treatment of these disorders for quite some time. The results of their research are quite promising. They have found that some patients who were taking a low dose of cannabidiol had significant reduction in their symptoms of anxiety and stress, as compared to those patients who were taking medications like Xanax. The study on this was done in Canada, but similar results have also been seen in the United States.
Another area of great interest is depression and anxiety. This is where we see so much evidence of potential benefits of CBD oil from the cannabis plant. In fact, some of the major studies that have been conducted on CBD and depression have shown clear evidence that they can reduce both the frequency and the severity of the symptoms of depression. Some of these studies, like the one from earlier this year show that patients taking twice daily doses of CBD (at different concentrations) of an herbal supplement called Hamshen, which is made from an Asian pharmaceutical herb called Bhringaraj, were able to reduce the severity of their depression when compared to a placebo.
One interesting little-known benefit of CBD oil is that it is an anti-inflammatory. In one test-tube study found in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, CBD was found to be effective in reducing the inflammatory reaction in the skin caused by the activation of interleukin-1 in the human body. Interleukin-1 is an inflammatory protein, which plays a role in the skin inflammation that accompanies various diseases such as psoriasis and eczema. It is believed that CBD is able to stop the activation of interleukin-1 because it has the ability to effect a change in lipid metabolism (the process by which fats are transported to cells). Other researchers think that this ability to affect lipid metabolism may account for why some people have anti-inflammatory arthritis while others do not; some respond to CBD but not others.
There was one study performed in a small town in Canada, the town of Kitchen County, Canada. A group of volunteer people took a CBD capsule daily for a period of time, some while they were completing a questionnaire on their mood, depression and anxiety; and some while they were completing a battery of tests designed to measure brain function. At the end of the four-month study, there were no significant differences in mood, depression and anxiety between the groups, but there were significant changes in the functioning of their brain’s reward system, the one associated with the taking of a placebo. The researchers suggested that the effect of CBD may be the result of the body trying to compensate for the loss of a perceived reward, if it doesn’t work in its usual way. This is only one of many possible experiments with CBD oil that could yield results, but at least until more data become available, CBD remains the drug of choice for many who are suffering from anxiety and other disorders.