CBD has Potential to Help Prevent COVID-19 Infection

CBD has been shown to help with many health-related issues like sleep, anxiety, and even acne. In fact, recent research has shown that CBD is a potent blocker of SARS-COV-2 replication in human cells. The question is, what does that mean for you? Is it possible that CBD has potential to help prevent Covid-19 infection?

The Beginning of CBD and COVID

Recent studies have shown that CBD has the potential to help prevent COVID-19 infection though clinical trials are still required. CBD has been studied since 1940 when a Harvard-trained chemist, Roger Adams, successfully extracted CBD from cannabis. (CBD used in our products is extracted from the Hemp plant.)

We continue to research CBD for its health properties and how it can affect specific health conditions. Fast forward to 2020, the world was thrust into a pandemic, and research began immediately on ways to slow or stop the spread of the SARS-COV-2 virus. No one was surprised when Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Sciences University began studying how cannabis affects the SARS-COV-2 virus.

The goal was to discover if cannabis has the potential to help prevent COVID-19 infection.

Oregon Study Results

The initial study of CBD and SARS-COV-2 had promising results, but there was a caveat. The study’s authors found that when the acids in cannabis were combusted and turned into CBD, it can halt the infection of cells by COVID in lab tests. However, the authors of the study also noted that vaccination was still the most potent weapon we have against COVID, saying, 

“With widespread use of cannabinoids, resistant variants could still arise, but the combination of vaccination and CBDA/CBGA treatment should create a more challenging environment with which SARS-CoV-2 must contend, reducing the likelihood of escape.” This study done by Oregon State University was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Natural Products.

The most significant caveat is that the acids that were found to prevent the spread of infection can not be obtained by simply smoking cannabis or ingesting CBD. Instead, you would need to access specific compounds in cannabis known as CBG-A and CBD-A. CBG-A can only be obtained during the growing stage of cannabis; it eventually becomes other cannabinoids like CBD.

CBD-A can only be extracted through a decarboxylation method. 

The University of Chicago and University of Louisville Study

As with any study, the more that is done, the better. There are simply too many variables in life to consider one study as the golden standard. That logic is why a team of 33 researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Lousiville took a survey of 1,212 U.S. patients who are prescribed CBD for other reasons. 

The results were encouraging, but it is important to understand what occurred in the survey. The paper was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances. The survey had more promising results to add to the earlier study done by Oregon State University. 

The Survey

The survey results were promising and showed that CBD has the potential to help prevent COVID-19 infection. The survey comprised 1,212 patients who have seizure-related issues and were prescribed CBD. Of this group, 6.2 percent tested positive for COVID compared to 8.9 percent in a control group. 

“Our results suggest that CBD and its metabolite 7-OH-CBD can block SARS-CoV-2 infection at early and even later stages of infection,” the study states. Another lab test was done by lead author Dr. Marsha Rosner, a professor at the Ben May Department for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago. Dr. Rosner’s lab test treated human lung cells for two hours with CBD. 

Afterward, Dr. Rosner’s team would infect the cells with SARS-COV-2 and leave them for 48 hours while being monitored for the COVID spike protein. The results showed that CBD inhibits the replication of genes required for the virus to grow and spread throughout the body. 

“As a bottom line, what this says is that CBD has the potential to prevent infections, such as breakthrough infections, which might be one of the most useful applications,” Rosner told Motherboard.

CBD Has Potential to Help Prevent Covid-19 Infection

The studies listed above are just a few of the studies that have been done. More studies have been completed, and some are ongoing. However, some promising results from the completed studies and surveys show CBD can help prevent COVID infections, but it is not a catch-all.

In fact, clinical trials are still needed to confirm how CBD interacts with SARS-COV-2 in a living human body. In fact, Dr. Rosner’s team still believes vaccines are the best weapon we have against SARS-COV-2, “We strongly caution against the temptation to take CBD in presently available formulations including edibles, inhalants, or topicals as a preventative or treatment therapy at this time.”