January 20, 2022… A day to remember in Science Advances, researchers found CBD had a “significant negative association” with positive COVID tests. This looked at patients’ medical records (HIPAA compliant) who took an FDA-approved drug for treating epilepsy.
It seemed that the CBD part of this drug actually slowed down the replication of COVID in people who took this drug.
What Did The Researchers Really Find?
First, most news outlets exaggerated the claims and didn’t tell you the whole story. So, let us translate the complicated medical jargon for people who want the truth.
This study looked only at two chemical vendors and two commercial vendors, all with CBD purities of at least 97% and congeneric cannabinoids not above 1.0%. That means it’s practically pure CBD and not the mix of CBD, THC, or other vitamins, minerals, flavorings, or fats.
The researchers tested CBD, THC, cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabidivarin (CBDV), cannabichromene (CBC), or cannabigerol (CBG). They found ONLY CBD affected the replication. But, what surprised researchers more is that other cannabinoids inhibited CBD and rendered the mix nearly useless. That means anything mixed with the CBD, even a carrier oil, renders it useless for COVID.
So, now that you know you need super high purity, at 99% or greater. How did it work?
CBD could block the virus entry to host cells (your lung tissue) and/or from replicating within the cells. It’s suspected that CBD blocks a number of the pathways the virus takes to infect host cells and replicate. It also helps reduce the inflammation and risk of concurrent infections. Currently, they need more tests to show what the exact mechanism is.
Somehow, CBD acted like a thick mud for the virus, slowing it up long enough for the immune system to destroy it.
How You Can Use CBD To Help Keep Healthy
You really do need 99% purity or above. One problem the researchers found was that nearly all the samples of commercial CBD fell far short of pure. They ranged from less than 0.30% CBD to barely over 50%. The research showed that anything less than 99% purity did not produce protective effects.
THC countered every positive benefit of CBD and possibly allowed COVID to replicate faster. This still needs to be tested more to see if it was an outlier or replicable. Other cannabinoids reduced the effect of the CBD.
Only oral administration produced the appropriate effects. Vaping did not produce the needed CBD purity, and concern for lung damage prohibited testing.
So, you need to find a supply of CBD that provides quality and purity. You have the right to ask for the MSDS and purity analysis.
Good quality CBD will provide benefits to you that can greatly improve your health. This is just one of the many ways CBD can improve your life.
