For some years, there has been a great deal of interest in the mode of action and potential medicinal properties of cannabinoids on our bodily functions, both from conventional medicine as well as from the alternative scene. Researchers have reported, several times, not only on the anti-inflammatory properties of CBD, but also how cannabinoids such as CBD & THC interact with our endo-cannabinoid system, thereby triggering and suppressing various effects.
CBD is widely known to have great therapeutic potential. According to the latest research in the industry, CBD oil has the potential to influence the way the immune system functions, something that can be incredibly important to begin with.
Cannabinoids such as CBD are known as immunomodulators. This means that cannabinoids have a regulative effect on the immune system via the ECS (endocannabinoid system). Among other things, this very characteristic of cannabinoids on our immune system has stirred a great deal of interest in the medical community. But recent research went even more in-depth with this, and it says that the immune system in particular can benefit from something like this. It’s extremely important for us to figure out how CBD influences our immune system. Who knows, maybe in the long run this can become a very good and helpful solution, one that does tend to show amazing potential and achieve wonderful results, if you use it the right way of course!
How does CBD affect our immune system?
It’s widely accepted in the science world now that cannabinoids are affecting the immune system functions. But the problem is that a lot of people don’t really know how this happens.
What we do know is that CBD oil can help decrease inflammation, and this is one of the main ways the immune system is affected in the first place.
There are studies showing that cannabinoids like CBD can suppress the immune system by inhibiting inflammation.
These anti-inflammatory properties are only one side of the coin. Because, depending on the state of health and the situation, it is not always the goal to either suppress the immune system or inhibit inflammation.
Inflammation is a natural process of the body and fulfills important tasks in the body. These include infections and damage that are localized and isolated by inflammatory processes.
Which means that with a normally functioning immune system and an appropriate inflammation, a suppression of the immune system is not desirable, because theoretically it could delay the healing process.
The challenge is that you don’t always want to decrease inflammation with help from CBD oil, as the inflammation in our body has a purpose. So it makes sense to have some inflammation, and CBD oil can bring in some problems and eventually remove that much-needed balance in the first place.
Talking with a doctor may not seem like the best idea at first, but it will help you prevent the situation from getting worse. Once you do that, the results will be more than okay in the end.
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CBD has the potential to help balance the immune system
Basically, the body uses 2 types of immune mechanisms to prevent disease. These are:
- Cell-mediated Immunity: This type of immunity does not produce antibodies to fight disease. Instead, the defense is performed by generating and activating antigen-specific T lymphocytes known as phagocytes. These phagocytes release cytokines that target various antigens, eliminating the potential threat and bringing the body back to normal.
- Humoral Immunity: This type of immunity (also known as antibody-mediated immunity) relies on macromolecules in extracellular fluids to defend antigens, as opposed to cell-mediated immunity involving T lymphocytes.
Scientists have discovered that cannabinoids can balance the different parts of the immune system through the endocannabinoid system. Since an over-stimulation of the immune system often leads to an autoimmune disorder and dangerous allergic reactions such as food sensitivities, the immune system balancing action of cannabinoids play an important role.
An over-stimulated immune system may even see routine things like dust or pollen as dangerous intruders, triggering “false alarms” that instruct the body to attack the allergen.
However, if the immune system is under-stimulated, cancer and catastrophic infections can occur. Therefore, if cannabinoids can help balance the immune system for optimal functionality, it can drastically reduce the rate of adverse effects.
CBD and Autoimmune Disorder
In an autoimmune disorder, the immune system overreacts, resulting in allergies to normal, actually healthy foods, in fact, the body may even be attacked in response. According to some researchers, CBD has strong immunosuppressive properties.
The research on CBD in a healthy immune system is not well advanced, so it is currently difficult to predict how CBD affects a healthy immune system. In an autoimmune disease in which the immune system is weakened or overreacted however, the whole thing looks different.
With an out-of-control immune system where chronic inflammation develops, with Arthirtis, multiple sclerosis, and other symptoms based on autoimmune disorders, the anti-inflammatory properties of CBD can become very useful.
The thing to keep in mind here is that we don’t know that much about the overall negative effects that this can bring to the table. You want to be certain that there’s a way to avoid things like that, and the results will indeed shine in the end.
The Endocannabinoid System and the Immune system
The endocannabinoid system is the system of receptors in the body with which the cannabinoids like CBD interact and bind.
Studies have shown that the cannabinoids act as neuromodulators for many body processes, e.g. the immune response.
The endocannabinoid system is very closely linked to the immune system and endocannabinoids could be responsible for the proper functioning of the immune system.
However, there are not enough studies in this area to know exactly how the ECS affects the immune system.
Read more:
- What is the Endocannabinoid System? Human Cannabinoid System
- The Endocannabinoid System – As a therapeutic target
- Endogenous Cannabinoids – The key in us
Cannabinoids & cancer
Cancer tends to involve diseased cells that are not responding to self-destruction, and in the end they just grow a lot more than they should. There’s more research needed in this field, but CBD oil has promising results when it comes to helping with cancer treatment.
CBD oil is said to trigger cell suicide in cancerous cells, something that’s extremely important and is also very valuable. It is important to note here that the current tests were only performed inside a lab. There are no real life results that can showcase this benefit, but that being said, the tests are on their way and they seem pretty good.
It’s definitely one of the most promising things we have when it comes to cancer. It’s going to take a while until we can actually find a cure for cancer, but CBD oil does bring in a lot of potential, and that’s the most important thing that we need in that perspective.
However, don’t get CBD oil with the premise of curing cancer, as you will end up being disappointed. While there’s definite potential in here, there are still a lot of tests that need to be made in order to confirm this as a suitable cure for cancer.
HIV / Aids and Cannabinoids
Most of the time HIV is caused by an immune system dysfunction. The virus compromises the immune system, which ends up just sitting there instead of fighting the infection. Cannabis will help the immune system fight against this type of problem, and that’s what makes it so promising to begin with.
Multiple studies were conducted on this topic, and it’s clear that cannabis can raise the T-cell count in HIV patients. Since these cells are known to destroy pathogens to begin with, it’s easy to see why using CBD oil makes a lot of sense and brings so much potential.
In fact, CBD oil can also be used to help deal with things like neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions. These include cerebral ischemia, strokes, head injuries and many others. According to the early studies, cannabis is very good at helping you fight the degeneration of nervous tissue.
Even if the studies were performed on animals, it’s still very promising to hear stuff like this, and it will only bring in better value in the long run, you can be rest assured of it. But yes, this is an area where there’s a lot more research needed.
Being able to fight the degeneration of nervous tissue and helping our body fight against HIV may seem hard to do, but CBD oil does have a very good track record here, and it does have its fair share of benefits. You need to consider checking it out at the very least, and you will be pretty happy with it in the end.
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Summary on CBD and the Immune System
This topic seems a bit more complex than first thought. Above all, there is also a lack of sufficient studies on this topic. But what we already found out is:
- CBD has strong anti-inflammatory properties that can suppress the immune system. However, these immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties are not always conducive.
- The immunosuppressive properties are of particular interest in treating autoimmune disorders, where CBD probably has great potential.
- It is not known yet how CBD and other cannabinoids affect a healthy immune system, as there is not enough study material available.
- However, the endocannabinoid system seems to play an important role in the immune system, as it appears to interact.
