According to a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nature Products, cannabis compounds prevented the virus that causes Covid-19 from penetrating healthy human cells. The study was conducted by researchers at Oregon State’s Global Hemp Innovation Center.
The two compounds commonly found in hemp — called cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, or CBDA — were identified during a chemical screening effort as having potential to combat coronavirus, researchers from Oregon State University said. In the study, they bound to spike proteins found on the virus and blocked a step the pathogen uses to infect people. That means that some cannabis molecules were able to take away the virus’s ability to enter healthy cells, at least in a petri dish.
The researchers tested the compounds’ effect against alpha and beta variants of the virus in a laboratory. The study didn’t involve giving the supplements to people or comparing infection rates in those who use the compounds to those who don’t. In another study published this week on BioRxiv.org, which has not yet been peer reviewed, researchers at the University of Waterloo’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences exposed kidney cells to COVID genes together with cannabidiol or CBD, and found that CBD increased the innate immunity of cells to detect the coronavirus genes and destroy itself before replicating the virus, which would prevent the virus from spreading. The study was also done in a petri dish.
Despite the encouraging results of both studies, petri dishes don’t take into account the complexity of the human body, and the overwhelming majority of drug studies done in petri dishes do not translate to effective therapies in humans in clinical trials.Epidemiologists say that more testing is needed.
Hemp is a source of fiber, food and animal feed, and extracts are commonly added to cosmetics, body lotions, dietary supplements and food.
“These compounds can be taken orally and have a long history of safe use in humans,” said Richard van Breemen, a researcher with Oregon State’s Global Hemp Innovation Center. “They have the potential to prevent as well as treat infection by SARS-CoV-2,” he said in a statement.
“It provoked this large response on the social media world because people thought, ‘Whoa, this is something I am already doing,’” says Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina.
It has beens stated however that smoking cannabis is not a good idea, since smoke inhibits the full function of the lung and COVID has been shown to affect the lungs negatively. What the findings may mean that cannabis-derived medicines or preparations might supplement vaccines in the struggle to end the nearly two-year-long COVID-19 pandemic.The findings were limited to just CBD—and just to certain high-grade CBD preparations that deliver a very large dose of the compound. “Going to your corner bakery and buying some CBD muffins or gummy bears probably won’t do anything,” Marsha Rosner, a professor of cancer research at the University of Chicago and a lead study author, said in a news release.
Nothing in the study indicates CBD is a replacement for existing preventative measures, such as masking and vaccinations—both of which the researchers hope people continue to do.
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