We have Nick, founder of CBD One sharing everything you need to know about the power of CBD.
It’s a classic culinary delight, a steak combined with some prawns. A strange yet compelling pairing that at once seems at odds with one another yet work so well
together. And now we have a new one, a natural powerhouse harvested from the sea and another from the land. Seemingly they do not belong together and yet they really do go well together.
Perhaps I should clarify the term CBD here. By this I am referring to a cannabis sativa strain commonly known as hemp, from which CBD extracts and products can be made. I shall be referring to a full spectrum CBD product throughout this article. This means it will have a natural mix of cannabinoids such as CBD, terpenes and flavonoids.
There are other types of CBD such as broad spectrum and isolate, there is also
synthetic CBD but none of these can get close to the natural potency of full spectrum CBD. Read on to discover what all that means.
What is in CBD?
CBD is a cannabinoid compound that is found in the hemp plant. It also contains
other cannabinoid compounds too such as CBG, CBN, CBDa and others. The most
notorious one is THC which is the psychoactive part of the plant that gets you high or stoned.
Fortunately, hemp only has trace THC in it so can be made into a legal product that
is safe to consume that will not have the ‘high’ effect. Aside from the cannabinoids there are also terpenes in the plant. These are volatile oils, that are responsible for the smell of the plant. They give cannabis its intriguing and instantly recognisable smell. Their job in the plant is to attract pollinators and repel pests. However, terpenes also appear to have useful healthy properties too.
An example of a terpene is limonene which you will probably have seen on the
ingredients list of shampoos and body products. There are also flavonoids which give hemp its taste and colour. They are useful antioxidants. Between cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids that will be present in a true full
spectrum CBD product we have a synergistic effect called the Entourage Effect. This is the powerful combination of these three when you ingest the product or place it on your skin. Truly it is a natural powerhouse.
What is seaweed and how does it work?
Seaweed is an algae that forms and grows in the sea. I shall be referring to
Hebridean Ascophyllum seaweed which is used in Doctor Seaweed products. It
contains trace amounts of important minerals such as potassium, iron, magnesium
and even vitamin D. Interestingly there is also a small amount of B12 in it which is
almost non existent in the plant world.
However, the most useful thing about seaweed is that it is rich in iodine. This
halogen element (some other halogens are fluorine and chlorine) is vital to the
healthy function of our thyroid gland and for hormone synthesis. There are receptors for iodine in every cell of your body. The thyroid is the driver of your metabolism. An easy way to think about your thyroid is that if it is working slowly, what is known as having a hypothyroid, then all your functions slow down. You have low energy, put on weight, longer periods, slower digestion, the list is
endless really. Conversely, if your thyroid is running too fast, a hyperthyroid, then everything speeds up and this can become dangerous as your body burns up foods and fats really fast to the point where it can begin to burn up your muscles and cause major systemic problems.
In the end you do not want to have a dysfunctional thyroid whether it is hypo or
hyper. It is going to lead to major systemic diseases unless it is treated.
Iodine deficiency can cause disease
And a major factor in thyroid disease is iodine deficiency. In the past there was a
thyroid problem called ‘Derbyshire neck’. This was a bulge or goitre on the front of a person’s neck where their thyroid was enlarged and a major cause of this was iodine deficiency. Why was it called Derbyshire?
Iodine is abundant in areas close to the sea and in fish and seafood and because
Derbyshire is so far inland most of the iodine in the land has leached away, there
was also a lack of seafood and fish in their diet until refrigeration became commonly available leaving people vulnerable to this thyroid problem.
Our environment also adds toxins to the thyroid gland
We now have further thyroid problems caused not just by a lack of iodine but by
exposure to chlorine in places such as swimming pools and the water supply and
fluorine in things like scotch guard.
In the absence of iodine your thyroid will grab hold of these other halogen elements
where it finds them and this causes toxicity in the thyroid gland and contributes to it
not being able to function optimally. When you start to put back a healthy source of iodine from seaweed slowly but surely the iodine begins to push out the toxic chlorine and fluorine from your thyroid. This then allows your thyroid to begin functioning normally again. It will also help your body synthesize hormones effectively which is why menopausal women often find their symptoms improve when they start taking seaweed. Therefore, good levels of iodine help drive your metabolism and hormone balance.
CBD, the great balancer?
We know that CBD interacts with CB1 and CB2 receptors that are widely distributed throughout your body in your central and peripheral nervous system, in most of your organs, joints, muscles and even on your skin. They form a network called the Endocannabinoid System or ECS for short. This is a system primed to respond to cannabinoids that your body makes. Yes, your body actually makes its own cannabis compounds! This is endogenous cannabis.
The common one we know most about is called anandamide and it helps the body
maintain its balance through a mechanism called homeostasis. This is the balancing
actions of your body in response to external demands placed upon it such as
changes in temperature or activity As long as homeostasis works well we maintain a good system wide balance. For reasons such as high stress, poor lifestyle, modern processed foods and environmental factors such as lacking exposure to sunlight we may become deficient in our own cannabinoids and our body can begin to show signs of disease.
This is where CBD can come into play. It is an exogenous cannabinoid. This means it is an external compound rather than one made in the body. When we take CBD it interacts with the ECS just like anandamide does and, therefore, it can help to maintain efficient homeostasis.
Can you take CBD and seaweed together?
Because iodine helps metabolism and hormone production and CBD is involved in
balancing your system there is a perfect interplay between the two.
One adds an important nutrient to encourage good function and the other adds an external compound that interacts to help balance your body in the absence of
internal cannabinoids. There is very little research available looking at these two natural powerhouses working together but I would argue they are an excellent pairing and well worth investigating together.
If you combine these two with a healthy lifestyle that connects you to nature,
sunlight, the circadian rhythms of movement and life I think it is a perfect pairing.