In the world of cannabinoids, there are a lot of claims made. Lots of people like to make medical claims about all sorts of things, whether or not it’s actually their field of expertise. So, is CBDA really everything that people crack it up to be?
A lot of people seem to believe that it can do all sorts of things for all sorts of people. These claims range from the ordinary, like providing calming effects, all the way to the extraordinary, like the people that claim that this cannabinoid can help cure serious medical conditions.
We were curious about this ourselves so we decided to look into it. We don’t really care what your uncle Larry has to say on the topic. What we’re after is the scientific consensus. What do scientists that have spent years studying this cannabinoid have to say about these claims?
The only way to really know for sure what CBDA is able to do is to look at the peer-reviewed studies. Unfortunately, any other source that you’ve heard from isn’t quite is reliable. It doesn’t matter how adamant your friend’s brother’s dog walker’s son was about it, if it’s not peer-reviewed it’s not a reliable source.
We realize that scientific and medical journals are hard to read. The language is dry and confusing. In many cases, they get into some super complicated chemistry stuff that you need at least a bachelor’s to be able to understand properly. It’s definitely not an easy task.
That’s why we went ahead and did the hard part for you, and today we’re going to be taking a look at the information we were able to obtain from our searches. By the time you’re done reading this article, you might not be able to call yourself an expert, but you will have a better understanding of this cannabinoid.
What is CBDA?
Before getting too deep into the benefits that CBDA may or may not be able to provide, we figured that it would be pertinent to go over what exactly it is. It is, after all, more than a little complicated to try and understand this cannabinoid without knowing what it is.
CBDA is short for cannabidiolic acid. It is one of many, many cannabinoids that can be found in the cannabis plant. CBDA is actually a precursor of CBD, which means that CBD is made from a chemical reaction involving CBDA that occurs within the cannabis plant.
Cannabinoids are simply compounds that are found in cannabis. There are a lot of different cannabinoids with varying levels of research done into them. The ones that you probably know off hand are THC and CBD.
THC and THCA are the only psychoactive cannabinoids that we currently know of, which means that they’re the only ones that will get you that “stoned” feeling that is often associated with cannabis. That means that CBDA will not give you any kind of a “stoned” feeling, and that’s part of its appeal.
In fact, most of the other cannabinoids only provide therapeutic effects. These effects can range, anti-inflammatory properties, calming effects, and a lot more. As we mentioned, some people make some pretty incredible claims about the effects of cannabinoids. How much of it is true? Well, that’s what we’re going to try and figure out moving forward.
The Supposed Benefits of CBDA.
People make a lot, and by a lot, we mean A LOT, of claims about what CBDA is able to help with. We could have made this whole article nothing more than a list of these supposed benefits and not had enough time to get through them.
With that thought currently residing in our minds, let’s take a look at some of the most common claims. Keep in mind that this article is for educational purposes and that we aren’t making any of these claims ourselves. In the next section, we’ll be covering which ones have actual scientific backing, but for now, let’s just look at the most common claims:
- Anti-inflammation properties.
- Help with psychosis.
- Anti-cancer properties.
- Reduction of nausea.
- Anti-seizure properties.
- Calming effects.
As we mentioned, there are a lot more claimed benefits than just those four. Those are just the ones that you could be the most likely to hear people talk about, but the list could go on indefinitely if we counted every single claim that has been made about CBDA.
A lot of these claims are made by people that don’t have the background to make said claims, but there is a little bit more to it than that. There has to be some reason that people have the idea that CBDA can do all of these things, right?
What CBDA Can Actually Do
In this section, we’re going to be taking a look at the claims that were made in the last section one at a time and picking them apart. We’re going to find the origins of the claims and provide you with the information that you need to know how seriously you need to take the claims.
Some things are pretty subjective, like a calming effect, but most other things are not subjective. It was definitely interesting to dive into this so we could figure out why people make all of these miraculous claims about CBDA, so let’s find out how many of them are verifiably true:
- Anti-inflammatory properties
- For decades now, you could hardly throw a rock without hitting someone making this claim. There have been many studies done on this, and the conclusion that the scientific community has come to is that it’s highly possible that CBDA helps with inflammation.
- Psychosis help
- Psychosis is a symptom of a lot of mental illnesses that people suffer from. There have been a few studies on this, and a lot of the studies have concluded that there is a possibility that it can help. There is a pharmaceutical company that has a patent on anti-psychosis meds using CBDA, so we’ll see what happens with that.
- Anti-cancer properties
- This is always the most miraculous claim that people make about CBDA, but there’s actually not a whole lot of evidence for this one. There was a single study done and the conclusion was that it might help with cancer. Much more research needs to be done.
- Nausea reduction
- If you ever feel nauseous, you may be happy to know that CBDA has a good chance of helping. There is currently no consensus on this, but many scientists seem to believe that CBDA would help with nausea.
- Anti-seizure properties
- CBDA can help with seizures and this is a scientific fact. Now, don’t go running down to your local smoke shop to pick up some CBDA. The CBDA that is used to help seizures is highly refined and is sold as a prescription drug. It’s stronger and purer than anything you’d get over the head shop counter and you would need your doctor to prescribe it to get your hands on it.
- Calming effects
- Here is the most subjective of all of the claims we’re looking at today. Does CBDA help with calming? Well, it depends on your physiology. It most definitely can, but that doesn’t mean it helps everyone calm down.
Generally speaking, if you hear anyone making a claim about CBDA, you’d be safe to assume that there either hasn’t been enough research done to verify the claim or there hasn’t been any research done on that particular claim. The only claim that has had enough research put into it is the seizure claim, and that has a prescription drug on the market at this time.
Just make sure that you take everything you hear about CBDA with a grain of salt. Most people get wrapped up in the hype and don’t do what we do when we hear an incredible claim, and that’s research the claim until we understand exactly why people think the way they do.
There needs to be a lot more research done on cannabinoids in general before we’re able to say for sure what kind of benefits they are able to provide. We may be waiting a while considering scientists have been working on getting this kind of research done for the better part of a century.
Scientists have been fighting tooth and nail to get this research done, but it can be a little tricky for a lot of reasons. The biggest reason is usually funding, so if you happen to be rich and curious you could fund your own studies and find the answers out for yourself the old-fashioned way.
Learning More About Cannabinoids
There is a lot to know about cannabinoids. There are hundreds of them found in the cannabis plant that we’ve already discovered, and who knows how many we haven’t found yet. Research is ongoing, so make sure that you’re doing the research you need to to be sure that you’re understanding what’s going on in the world of cannabis as time continues going on.