EURO NEWS – Cannabidiol gummies, edibles, and other CBD products have taken off in recent years – but even low doses may be enough to hurt people’s health, a new study has found.
CBD – the non-psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that makes people feel relaxed – has become more widely available in the European Union since the bloc’s high court decided in 2020 that it was not a narcotic drug, ruling that CBD “does not appear to have any psychotropic effect or any harmful effect on human health”.
But the new findings from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggest that may not be entirely true.
In a randomised controlled trial, even small amounts of CBD can affect some people’s liver function.
The study included 201 healthy people in the United States, including 151 who used CBD twice per day for four weeks. The CBD doses, totalling five milligrams per day, were within the range of typical consumer products such as edibles, drinks, or lotions.
At the end of four weeks, eight of the CBD users had liver enzyme levels that were more than three times above the normal range – and seven experienced potential drug-induced liver injury.
That’s compared with zero among people who did not use CBD …
