CBD Research - How CBD Works
CBD, AUTOIMMUNE, AND IMMUNE SYSTEM
None of the statements on this website have been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration. CBD products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. A doctor's advise should be sought before using CBD products especially if you have a serious medical condition, use prescription medications, are pregnant, or are nursing a child.
Just turn on the TV.
Not NetFlix of course...but regular TV.
You're likely to see an ad for really expensive medications.
The chance that the ad is for an autoimmune disease is ridiculously high!
Some of the drugs run 50-70K per year.
That's thousands by the way. Not a typo.
Now...as the person on screen is building a paper machete fence for their daughter's play (or some other creepily wholesome scene), pay attention to the side effects.
Some scary stuff.
Risk of death is bad, right??
Autoimmune is everywhere. Everywhere!
What is going on with our immune systems?
We'll touch on that below but more importantly, what is research showing for CBD and the immune system?
Keep in mind that the autoimmune diseases share common pathways.
There's a direct tie within family members where one member might have psoriasis, another lupus, and a third rheumatoid arthritis.
You can always jump right to the 3rd party screened CBD products by value here:
Otherwise, feel free to jump to any section here:
- A quick introduction to your immune system
- What's happening with the immune system these days
- The endocannabinoid system and the immune system – an overview
- Research on CBD and autoimmune
- Does CBD lower or boost the immune system?
- What dosage to take for autoimmune diseases?
- What's the best CBD for autoimmune diseases?
Let's get right into it!
A Quick Introduction To Your Immune System
We would be dead without it.
You are swimming in a sea of hostile forces, some of which want to cause harm.
Trillions of bacteria on and inside of you.
They outnumber our cells by 10,000 to 1 and we have approximately 30 Trillion cells!
Fungi. Toxins. Contaminants.
Our poor immune system has to keep up with all of this and it's constantly changing.
It's thankless and maybe an impossible job.
The fact that we ever feel calm or at rest while this is going on belies just how sophisticated and dialed-in the system is.
The immune system primarily resides in the gut.
Think about it...the immune system only comes in contact with the outside world (hostile territory) in a few ways:
- Digestive track
- Skin
- Lungs
- Sex organs
The main way in for most foreign entities is the digestive tract.
Food immediately starts to break down and guess who's doing all that work?
Bacteria!
Immediately!!
That's why 80% of our immune system resides in the gut.
The first line of defense.
They just found that the immune system has a "bar scanner" that reads simple sugars (glycans) on the surface of everything it comes in contact with.
With autoimmune diseases, it's "misreading" our tissue as foreign entities or it's just overworked and attacking indiscriminately.
Keep in mind that inflammation is the primary weapon AND collateral damage source of our immune response.
The enemy gets attacked but so does the surrounding tissue.
Let's look at what is going on these days in terms of our immune system as we enter an explosion of autoimmune disease.
Learn all about CBD and gut bacteria here.
What's Happening With The Immune System These Days
So, it is just more advertising, or are autoimmune diseases on the rise?
The CDC showed that Type 1 Diabetes (congenital form) rose 23% from 2001 to 2009.
That would hint at an environmental effect since genes don't change that quickly.
Women are getting hit especially hard:
ADs affect a disproportionate number of women – the female to male ratio is 50:1 in Hashimoto's syndrome (hypothyroidism), 9:1 in lupus, primary biliary cirrhosis, and antiphospholipid syndrome, 7:1 in Graves' disease, 4:1 in RA, and 2:1 in multiple sclerosis (MS) and myasthenia gravis.
There's an interesting tie in how sex hormones, primarily estrogen, help to stave off an inflammatory process.
This may explain why many autoimmune diseases are hitting women and disproportionately, over age 40 when estrogen starts to drop.
What about the hygiene theory...that our body's lack of exposure to parasites and infections in today's world is making us more susceptible to autoimmune diseases.
It is interesting that the autoimmune disease explosion has occurred primarily in the developed world:
One reason that many researchers suspect something about modern living is to blame is that the increases show up largely in highly developed countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere, and have only started to rise in other countries as they have become more developed.
The latest and most interesting explanation of what is happening deals with bacteria residing in us.
Primarily in our gut and mouth!
The research is showing that bacteria can move around the body to other tissue and the immune system then attacks it there.
If it's the kidney, you end up with diabetes. The thyroid, Hashimoto's disease. Etc.
For example, a very recent study showed a connection between people who had an appendectomy and a 20% reduction in Parkinson's risk!
The plaques forming in arteries under closer examination showed genetic results that it was from bacteria (not beef or the liver)!
So...bacteria leaving their desired location can cause all kinds of trouble.
This article gets into all the different diseases tied to the migration of harmful bacteria and our body's response to it.
Why would bacteria be able to leave the gut and travel throughout the body?
That's the whole "leaky gut" theory which is so popular these days.
There has long been a connection between the ability of bacteria to cross over the intestinal wall to the bloodstream and autoimmune diseases.
The issue is that researchers didn't know if this was a symptom or a cause of the autoimmune disease.
Some new research is shedding light on the cause-effect of this mechanism.
In fact, researchers were able to use antibiotics to attack a specific bacteria and influence autoimmune disease progression.
The researchers also found that the autoimmune reaction can be suppressed with an antibiotic or vaccine designed to target the bacteria
There is a lot of research tying the microbiome (your beneficial gut bacteria), intestinal permeability (or leaky gut), and auto-immune.
A simple example is that of an intestinal lining supporter like Vitamin D being knocked out and resulting in worsening colitis (autoimmune disease) as a result of intestinal mucus thinning..
Scroll down to the "Leaky Gut and Autoimmune" for lots of research tying the two.
Keep in mind that the more recent the research, the more prevalent the data relating bad bacteria that travels out of the gut (or mouth) to cause havoc throughout the body.
Most doctors either don't know or support "leaky gut".
Despite all the new data pointing to the importance of the microbiome (good bacteria in the gut), it will rarely come up with an MD.
There's a lag there in the medical community...hopefully not for long.
If bacteria really do play a key role in autoimmune diseases, is it really surprising we're having so many issues there over the past 40 years.
- Pesticides
- Anti-biotic use medically and in our food supply
- Chemicals, preservatives, toxins
Almost everyone (including babies in utero) have glyphosate in their blood.
Take a look at the laundry list of scary chemicals that are also there in umbilical cord blood:
This all affects gut bacteria.
We have an entire article on CBD and the gut since this is where research is pointing for a host of issues.
So what does this have to do with CBD and the endocannabinoid system?
The Endocannabinoid System And The Immune System – An Overview
Before we jump into CBD, let's look at the endocannabinoid system.
It's pretty amazing and relatively new to most people.
You have an entire system in the body that research shows that are tasked with balancing other key systems in the body.
The main ones are:
- The endocrine system (hormones)
- The nervous system (neurotransmitters)
And.....wait for it...
The Immune system!
That might be important for autoimmune diseases.
Here's a quick image:
The system appears to moderate, modulate, or whatever word you want to use for balance...the various players in these systems.
It definitely does this in the gut where the autoimmune response is most significant.
One of the most exciting pieces of research found that the endocannabinoid system is involved in carrying toxins across the intestinal barrier to be removed from the body.
That is incredible!
Keep in mind that when these toxins aren't removed correctly (i.e. the endocannabinoid system is impaired), the buildup causes inflammation in the gut wall.
There's an amazing overview of gut health, gut bacteria, toxin removal, and a host of other roles that the endocannabinoid system has in this mix:
Finally, we'll end with this:
As we briefly mentioned above, ECS is generally considered to be one of the "gate-keepers"� of the immune system, preventing the onset of pathological immune responses
That sums it up nicely.
Okay, so the endocannabinoid system lies right smack in the middle of the immune system and gut health axis.
What about CBD? Does it help?
Does CBD Help With Autoimmune Diseases – Research And Studies
Since we just discussed the gut biome's relationship with autoimmune diseases, let's start there.
The researchers found that CBD and THC reduced the symptoms of autoimmune encephalomyelitis by affecting a bacteria in the gut biome.
Collectively, our data suggests that THC+CBD can ameliorate EAE by preventing the accumulation of mucin-degrading bacteria that would lead to increased gut microbial dysbiosis.
It's only recently that researchers even considered the interplay of our microbiome, autoimmune diseases, and cannabinoids like CBD.
Here, CBD reduced the immune response tied to MS.
Moreover, the mRNA and protein of IL-6, a key factor in Th17 induction, were also decreased. Pretreatment with CBD also resulted in increased levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.
T cells are a powerful weapon of the immune system especially when turned against our own tissue!
CBD has been shown to help moderate this response:
CBD suppresses T cell function and that CB1 and/or CB2 play a critical role in the magnitude of the in vitro anti-sRBC IgM AFC response
Many of the big selling autoimmune diseases go after this same thing – immunosuppressors.
However, they carry very serious side effects which CBD doesn't show.
T cells are just one actor in the immune response.
This article gets into the CBD and cannabinoid's effects on all the different actors:
Manipulation of endocannabinoids and/or use of exogenous cannabinoids in vivo can constitute a potent treatment modality against inflammatory disorders.
Exogenous just means plant-based cannabinoids instead of the ones we naturally have in our body.
Some key takeaways...
Arthritis
intra-peritoneal (25 mg/kg) administration of CBD inhibited disease progression
Arteriosclerosis
The study demonstrated that CBD reversed the harmful effects of high glucose on HCAECs
Again, new research is showing that the plaque buildup in the arteries is from mouth bacteria (based on genetic analysis) that escape into the blood!
Diabetes
CBD treatment inhibited specific destruction of the islets and reduced the infiltrates by mononuclear cells into the islets, thus preventing diabetes
Um...that's a big one.
Yes, we need more research but please hurry!!
Keep in mind that the key damage caused with autoimmune diseases is in the inflammatory response of that system.
We've covered how CBD works with inflammation here in detail!
That gets into the specifics of calming down the immune response within the body AND brain!
CBD, via the endocannabinoid system, affects many aspects of the immune response that triggers autoimmune diseases.
It also helps to balance the immune cell proliferation and removal.
This is incredibly important in diseases such as psoriasis where there is an excessive growth of tissue.
This is one specific mechanism by which CBD helps the endocannabinoid system "balance" the immune response.
CBD reducing inflammatory immune cells:
Cannabidiol, the nonpsychoactive ingredient in cannabis, induced apoptosis in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells at 4-8M concentrations by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production
Apoptosis is a fancy word for cell death.
It's a natural function of the body to help balance the constant push-pull between tissue growth and maintenance.
There are dozens of studies going on right now with CBD and autoimmune disease.
We expect further good news based on the preliminary data we have so far.
We'll start back where we ended...in the gut!
A recent study showed that CBD helped to turn the immune response in the gut from T1 to T2.
This is huge!
- T1 is the immune system's attack mode!
- T2 is the standby but be vigilant mode.
A persistent T1 setting is closely related to autoimmune disease progression.
Let's look at a few questions that commonly pop up with CBD and the immune system.
Does CBD Lower Or Boost The Immune System?
So which is it?
Does CBD increase or decrease the immune response?
That is what is so amazing about the endocannabinoid system.
It depends on what you need!
Where most of our medications are one-way streets – boost these pathways. Knockdown this pathway...
The endocannabinoid system can do both.
It tries to moderate or balance other systems such as our immune response.
CBD has shown evidence of reducing certain immune response actors while increasing others.
Our immune system is one of the most complicated in the body.
In fact, the gut's system is by far the most complicated.
We've only recently STARTED to explore the effects of gut bacteria on our health.
They just found that gut bacteria can affect how we MOVE!
There are examples in the above research of CBD acting as an immunosuppressant and other studies (such as relating to cancer) that show it turning on other aspects.
This gets to the heart of CBD or cannabinoids in general.
They are so-called adaptogenics (like turmeric) which appear to balance the system rather than only push them one direction.
So...how much CBD should people take for immune issues?
What Dosage To Take For Autoimmune Diseases?
As with all issues, this depends on the severity of what we're trying to address.
Basic wellness dosages typically run 20-30mgs of CBD.
In the research, they generally test 300-600mgs for more serious issues.
CBD has been tested up to 1500mgs with a strong safety profile.
Here's a good dosage guide:
Always start lower and see how your body adjusts.
Check out the CBD safety page here.
What's the best CBD to take for immune issues?
What's The Best CBD For Autoimmune Diseases?
Some autoimmune diseases present themselves in the skin (psoriasis, acne, etc) while others are systemic (the entire body) or internal.
The CBD oil tinctures are the most popular especially since most of the immune response originates in the gut.
Make sure to start with CBD isolate since it's cleaner than the full spectrum.
There's a good percentage of the population that has major histamine issues and the "plant" material in full spectrum can cause immune responses...which seems to be the wrong direction!
Check out CBD and histamine issues here.
Histamine response is part of our immune response and generally inflammatory!
You can always try Isolate for a month and then check out full spectrum to see how your body handles it.
Keep in mind, the research is mainly on CBD by itself!
Regardless of marketers tell you.
You can see the safety screened CBD by price value here:
Let us know what your results are and we'll publish them here.