Feb 21
CBD Research
Could CBD Play an Important Role in the Fight Against COVID-19?
Previous studies had already suggested that CBD may have antiviral properties but is it really effective against SaRs-CoV-2?
Despite widespread vaccination, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage throughout the globe. New treatments are needed especially for people with limited access to vaccines.
Not many therapies have proven to be effective at reducing the replication and viral production of SaRS-CoV-2.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a potential regulator of the host stress and antiviral inflammatory response. Some studies have suggested that cannabinoids have antiviral effects against some viruses, including hepatitis C.
So, a team of over 20 researchers from the University of Chicago, the University of Louisville, and the University of Illinois, Chicago set out to investigate whether or not CBD could inhibit SaRS-CoV-2 replication.
This study concluded that:
- High-purity CBD can inhibit the replication of COVID-19 in human lung epithelial cells.
- CBD’s metabolite 7-OH-CBD exhibits antiviral activity.
- CBD weakly inhibits virus entry into cells but acts early in the infection cycle and is ~60% effective at inhibiting the virus 15h after infection.
- CBD eradicates viral RNA expression and reverses viral-induced changes in host gene expression.
- “CBD treatment significantly inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in mice.”
In a second part of the study, researchers gathered data from people who already included CBD in their daily routines vs. those who didn’t.
They aimed to understand whether or not CBD usage influences COVID-19 indications in patients.
They analyzed 1,212 patients with a history of medical conditions that led them to use solutions with 100mg/mL of CBD daily.
Their research revealed that 6.2% of patients had “an indication of SARS-CoV-2 infection proximal to the dates of their first COVID-19 test in their N3C data. This was a significantly lower rate than the rates of matched control groups of patients” [8.9%] with no prior CBD use.
“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.”
Thank you for reading :) Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about CBD’s antiviral properties. Sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date on the latest cannabis & hemp research.
Sources
About the Author
Inês Tavares is a graduate of Minho University, where she received her MSc in Textile Engineering. Plagued by the idea that a 9 to 5 would be her reality until retirement, she took the first COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to start her freelance writing business.
She has since been helping cannabis & psychedelics businesses increase traffic and sales by providing them with content strategy, SEO blog posts, email marketing strategy, lead magnets, and marketing emails.
She created MariGrama to fight misinformation by sharing reliable, trustworthy content on cannabis & hemp — no twisting facts for marketing, no dodgy sources, only science-backed information.
You can connect with her on LinkedIn or take a look at her portfolio.
