Based on a new study, cannabidiol, which is a nonpsychotropic constituent of marijuana, could in fact accelerate the healing process of bones by a significant margin. Due to the recent legislative moves to legalize marijuana for medicinal use and/or purposes across various states, researchers are now uncovering the beneficial possibilities marijuana may hold.
Initial results of the study have come under a mixture of deductions, conclusions, and data. A systematic review of 79 clinical trials, arranged arbitrarily, sought to determine the overall effectiveness of cannabinoids, the drug’s active components. According to their data, the researchers discovered that the evidence used to support marijuana for medicinal purposes was relatively low. However, support for legalizing marijuana for medicinal use is still a popular trend that is sure to be advocated after recent findings of a study that helps sheds light on the success in alienating the undesired side effects of marijuana from its designed medical benefits. Cannabinoid receptors are a sort of receptor familiar to our bodies that can be triggered via components found in the cannabis plant.
According to prior data by researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and Hebrew University in Israel, the human skeleton is controlled by cannabinoids and that bone formation is activated by cannabinoid receptors already found inside the body, which prevents bone loss. Such a finding points to the inevitable conclusion that cannabinoid drugs may be a great, effective resource to draw from and implement in treatment for bone related diseases such as osteoporosis.
“The clinical potential of cannabinoid-related compounds is simply undeniable at this point. While there is still a lot of work to be done to develop appropriate therapies. It is clear that it is possible to detach a clinical therapy objective from the psychoactivity of cannabis. CBD [cannabidiol], the principal agent in our study, is primarily anti-inflammatory and has no psychoactivity,” said Dr. Yankel Gabet, of the Bone Research Laboratory at the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine.
Within the recently released study, published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Gabet and his team studied the effect(s) of CBD on rodents with mid-formal bone fractures. One cohort of rodents were administered a dosage of CBD. Whiles another group was administered with a mixture of CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the primary psychoactive compound of marijuana. Following 8 weeks, the team purported that CBD alone was linked to a noticeably enhanced healing process in the fracture(s).
“We found that CBD alone makes bones stronger during healing, enhancing the maturation of the collagenous matrix, which provides the basis for new mineralization of bone tissue. After being treated with CBD, the healed bone will be harder to break in the future,” said Gabet.
Judging by the results set forth by the study it is safe to assume, CBD yields favorable results and can be utilized as a key course of treatment for bone healing. The study also demonstrates how safe CBD is, with Gabet remarking that researchers “should continue this line of study in clinical trials to assess its usefulness in improving human fracture healing.”
