Researchers from the George Washington School of Medicine are the first to establish that cannabidiol (CBD), an ingredient derived from the cannabis plant, may have protective benefits against UVA radiation.
We know that we need to throw everything we have at protecting our skin from the harmful effects of UV radiation, and we have even more limited options against UVA which penetrates deeper into the skin. No one approach is perfect and foolproof. This study highlights that a nano-CBD formulation could be an additional weapon against the harmful effects in combination with our current modalities.
The research was a small, prospective, single-center clinical trial involving just 19 participants. They had Fitzpatrick skin types I-III — the palest skin types — ranging from white skin that always burns and never tans to skin that moderately burns and may tan gradually to a light brown.One cream contained the nano-encapsulated CBD cream whilst the other cream was the same cream but without CBD.
The participants and laboratory investigators did not know which cream went on which buttock.
After the 14-day period, the skin on the buttocks that was treated with the creams was exposed to up to three times the amount of UV radiation than is necessary to injure or burn the skin.
The researchers performed skin biopsies 24 hours later.They found that 21% of the participants had less redness on the skin that was treated with CBD compared with the skin that was treated with the cream that didn’t contain CBD.
They also found that skin thickening, which can happen with sun exposure, was reduced significantly in the biopsy samples of skin treated with CBD compared to the other cream. Damage to DNA, as well as mutations to DNA that can occur due to UVA skin damage, was also reduced in the skin treated with CBD cream. Researchers think there’s still a lot more that can be done. 21% is not a huge number. In terms of medicine, they hope that things have at least 40 or 50% effectiveness. Because the number needed to treat then goes down. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound derived from the cannabis plant. These plants may be referred to as hemp or marijuana.
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) also comes from these plants and can give people a “high”. People may use CBD oil for a variety of purposes, including pain relief, anxiety and depression. CBD has a good safety profile, but often carries a stigma. Not only is there a stigma amongst patients, but physicians as well, care providers, et cetera. This just adds to the plethora of knowledge base that we already have looking into CBD as a treatment strategy. The study is not done on THC; it’s been strictly on nano-CBD particles. So, that’s a non-intoxicating chemical that can come from cannabis, hemp.
This is where we get a stigma attached to it. We have to start changing our perspectives and understanding and look at the research as guiding us.This study does not make any claims about the utility of nCBD compared to current standard-of-care for UVA protection, such as sunscreen. Future work can utilize an active control (i.e. commercially available UVA filters, Polypodium leucotomos extract) to assess whether nCBD has any additional protective benefit,
