By now most Americans have at least heard of the benefits of CBD products. They are becoming more popular each day with over 10% of Americans saying they have tried CBD oil at least once. Benefits such as relieving anxiety and stress as well as reducing inflammation are most often mentioned when talking about Cannabidiols, but did you know that CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) has just as many uses and some studies even show is to be MORE effective when treating certain symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting? This is especially great news for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, people who suffer from migraines, and those who experience motion sickness. Let’s explore the benefits of choosing CBDA in place of CBD.
First, let’s look at the difference between CBD and CBDA.
CBDA is the acidic precursor to CBD found in raw plant material. CBD is made from CBDA which is what comes directly from the plant in pure form by water extraction. CBD is later extracted through a heating process. So, CBDA is the natural form of CBD.
Since CBDA is found abundantly in cannabis plants, some people consider it to be the more natural of the two cannabinoids even though cannabinoids are not considered active unless they undergo decarboxylation, also known as “juicing”, which is done before the plant is dried.
While CBD and CBDA are chemically similar, they are not interchangeable. CBDA converts to CBD during extraction and processing as temperatures rise, changing the molecular structure of the cannabinoid. That makes CBD a byproduct of CBDA.
CBD and CBDA work together with the many other cannabinoids in full spectrum products and contribute to the Entourage Effect. The Entourage Effect explains how the inactive elements in cannabis combine to magnify and multiply the effects of individual plant components. It’s because of the Entourage Effect that many CBD users believe full spectrum products are more potent than products made with pure CBD.
What are the benefits of using CBDA?
While we want to focus our attention on CBDA’s effectiveness when treating nausea and vomiting, it is worth mentioning all 6 of the major health benefits of using CBDA. These include:
1. anti-inflammatory benefits
2. anti-anxiety benefits
3. antidepressant benefits
4. anti-tumor benefits (decrease in tumoral activity)
5. anti-convulsive benefits
6. anti-nausea benefits
This last one is gaining the most attention in recent studies. Several studies are showing promising results when CBDA is used in the treatment of nausea and vomiting. These symptoms can be induced by a variety of factors, including migraines, seizures, motion sickness, bacterial or viral infections, and chemotherapy treatments. Whatever the reason, no one enjoys these feelings and science has long searched for a way to combat and even eliminate them. CBD has been used in this area since the 1970s, but new studies are showing that CBDA is up to 1000X more effective. This is good news for those with chronic or acute nausea.
For cancer patients, chemotherapy-induced nausea is one of the most distressing symptoms noted by patients undergoing treatment, and even with newer medications, it remains a problem. CBDA has been shown to possess antiemetic properties, preventing vomiting and suppressing nausea. One study also shows that by enhancing serotonin receptor 5-HT1A activation, CBDA displays significantly greater potency than just CBD at inhibiting vomiting. The team of researchers believes that CBDA holds great promise as a treatment for nausea and vomiting, including anticipatory nausea for which there is no current treatment.
A study in 2013 by EM Rock and LA Parker observed the effectiveness of CBDA as an anti-nausea and anti-emetic in rats and shrews. Two experiments tested for the minimally effective dose of CBDA that would reduce gaping reaction in shrews and tongue protrusions in rats. The study found that CBDA effectively reduced LiCl-induced conditioned gaping in rats. This suggests that CBDA is a highly potent treatment for acute nausea, even at low concentrations. CBDA also inhibited toxin-induced vomiting in shrews. The data demonstrate that the amount of CBDA necessary to decrease nausea is approximately 1000X lower than CBD.
It is difficult to make an apple-to-apple comparison between CBD and CBDA. These two compounds are different and offer unique therapeutic benefits based on how they interact with the different body systems. CBDA has two obvious advantages over CBD. First, because CBDA is not combusted it is a safer alternative to CBD. Also, CBDA has greater bioavailability meaning that a small dose of CBDA goes a long way.
The CBDA benefits outlined in this article are promising. However, it will take larger clinical trials to validate these preliminary findings.
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