In Food And Supplements, Pot Is Hot — But Is It Healthy?
Products that contain cannabidiol, are made with hemp, or taste like pot are gaining popularity. (Photo: Getty Images)
There’s no question about it: Pot has become a hot ingredient. Just look at Ben and Jerry (of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream), who said they’d consider making a cannabis-flavored ice cream one day. Or Skinnygirl founder and Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel, who plans to launch a line of Skinnygirl marijuana in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, where weed is legal for medicinal and recreational use.
But aside from the trendiness, are there actual health benefits to consuming pot-containing products?
Turns out, cannabidiol (also known as CBD), a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, does have potential health benefits — it just doesn’t give the “high” that usually comes with pot. (Though it’s important to note long-term effects of cannabidiol are still unknown.)
So far, the potential benefits of cannabidiol seem to be for specific groups. Studies show that the compound may be a good alternative pain-relief option, including for cancer-related pain. Animal research shows that it reduces inflammation and may have a promising role as an effective therapy for neurodegenerative disorders, including multiple sclerosis, as well as for glaucoma and epileptic seizures.
"In children with severe epilepsy who have not responded to medications, we’ll give them a pure form of CBD under a controlled setting where we monitor for safety and figure out appropriate doses," Daniel Friedman, MD, assistant professor of neurology at the NYU Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, explains to Yahoo Health. "The results appear promising. Some with severe epilepsy do get better and 10 percent or so become seizure-free, which is rare."
Related: Why Parents Of Children With Epilepsy Are Increasingly Turning To Marijuana
While researchers look into CBD’s role as a potential therapeutic agent, food and supplement companies are moving full steam ahead with products that contain the compound, such as Hemp Health, Inc., which produces Pharma CBD capsules, and Inergetics, which is launching a new cannabidiol-based nutritional supplement for natural pain relief.
Other companies — such as MEC3 and its “One Love” pot-flavored gelato made with hemp seeds— are jumping on the bandwagon with foods that taste like pot, but don’t contain cannabidiol. Think of it like the non-alcoholic beer of foods — all of the flavor without any of the buzz. Since marijuana isn’t exactly known for its great taste, though, you might wonder why there’s a draw to creating foods with that particularly pungent flavor.
An ad for MEC3′s “One Love” gelato, made with hemp seeds. (Photo: MEC3)
Katarina Maloney, co-founder of Hemp Health Inc., has a possible reason for why: “Forbidden fruit tastes better,” she says. “Customers are hoping to break the barrier of tasting the outlawed taste and not get punished for breaking the law. Companies with marijuana-flavored candies — lollipops, chocolate bars, jelly beans — are taking cannabis culinary [to new] heights.”
But is it even legal for compounds from pot to be sold without a medical marijuana prescription? The answer is a bit murky. Technically, marijuana-derived cannabidiol is considered a controlled substance in the U.S., which would make it illegal. However, several states have legalized cannabidiol oil for limited use (mainly for research purposes).
Related: How Marijuana Really Affects The Brain
More than likely, the CBD-containing foods and products sold online are made from industrialized hemp plants and not marijuana. Hemp, which can be found in skincare, clothing, and food products, is legal in the U.S. (It’s illegal to grow it as a commercial crop in the U.S., but sale of imported industrial hemp products that are low in THC is permitted, with certain caveats.)
"Hemp does not fall under DEA guidelines," says Friedman, who questions how much CBD is actually in some of these products. "CBD in hemp is the same molecule as it is in marijuana. The issue is quantity," he says. "To produce the [beneficial] dosages we’re using in our study would require lots of hemp, such that the cost of treatment becomes prohibitively expensive. What’s being sold [online] may be homeopathic levels."
A report from the non-profit educational group Project CBD backs that up: “Industrial hemp typically contains far less cannabidiol than CBD-rich cannabis. Huge amounts of industrial hemp are required to extract a small amount of CBD.”
In addition, products that contain CBD from industrialized hemp that are sold online are not regulated by the FDA. So you don’t exactly know how much of the beneficial ingredients you’re getting from different brands and even from different bottles within the same brand.
What’s more, CBD levels in a plant can vary. “The amount of CBD a plant produces is influenced by soil conditions, light conditions, and other environmental factors that can change from batch to batch,” notes Friedman, “unless there’s a rigorous quality control, such as from a medical marijuana dispensary.”
The bottom line: Scientists are still exploring the potential therapeutic abilities of cannabidiol, with a possible treatment for epilepsy being the most promising. However, we don’t know if those same benefits hold true for cannabidiol derived from industrialized hemp — while it may have a similar benefit, since the same compound is found in both marijuana and hemp, it’s a matter of how much you’re actually getting in the product you’re consuming. (It’s unlikely it would be anywhere near as potent as what you’d get from a prescription from a medical marijuana dispensary.)
So if you’re curious about trying some of the hemp-derived cannabidiol products, know that your health may — or may not — benefit from it, depending on the manufacturer and what you’re expecting it to do for you.
