Can CBD help with COVID-19 and the current pandemic?

Photo by Adam Nieścioruk

Can CBD help with COVID-19 and the current pandemic?

With COVID-19 rapidly spreading throughout the world, the top priority is to find treatments and prevention strategies that can help decrease the disease spreading and reduce mortality. With new research CBD may help with COVID-19 symptoms due to its powerful anti-inflammatory properties and more...  

What is COVID-19?   

On the W.H.O (World Health Organisation) website they describe COVID-19 (strain of coronavirus) as an infection disease. “Infected people will experience moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.”  

The main symptoms of COVID-19 are:  

-A high temperature – This means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)  

-A new, continuous cough – This includes coughing a lot more than you normally would for over an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)  

-A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – Thereby causing you to notice you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.  

Photo by Martin Sanchez

How does COVID-19 work?  

COVID-19 uses its spiky surface proteins to grab on to receptors found on healthy cells, specifically those found in the lungs. These viral proteins typically go through ACE2 receptors; and once they have made their way inside, the coronavirus latches onto healthy cells evidently taking control of the cells and soon killing some of them.  

The virus impacts the respiratory system by descending down your respiratory tract, which includes your mouth, nose, throat, and lungs. However, because the lower airways have more ACE2 receptors than the rest of the respiratory tract, COVID-19 is more likely to go deeper and harm you more than other viruses such as the common cold. This is what makes COVID-19 more sinister than average colds or strains of influenza. By entering the lungs, the virus makes it more complicated for people to breathe and exponentially more if it leads to pneumonia. 

 For most people (about 80%), the symptoms end with a cough and a fever. For those who are not so lucky, the infection can become very severe. About five to eight days after symptoms begin, some people will have shortness of breath which could lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) a few days later.  

What is CBD?  

Cannabidiol (CBD) is an organic compound found in the cannabis and hemp plant. However, unlike its famous counterpart Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD does not leave you feeling “high” when consumed, as it’s used for its therapeutic properties. There are over 100 cannabidiols that can be found in the cannabis plant and unlike many other cannabinoids, CBD does not have psychoactive properties like THC does.  

For CBD to be legal in the UK, there must be a limit of 0.2% or less of the substance THC inside any given product or supplement. 

CBD was first researched in 1942 when scientists found it difficult to complete research on the benefits of CBD, since then there has been a lot more research to uncover how CBD oil can help with inflammation and much more!

What can CBD do to help?  

One way CBD may appear to reduce the damage that COVID-19 has caused is by enabling an increase in levels of natural peptide called apelin, which is known to reduce inflammation and equalise blood pressure. When blood pressure gets high, for example, apelin levels should rise to help reduce your blood pressure. Recently they have shown apelin to decrease all the way down when you have a viral infection, and that CBD quickly stabilises those levels as well as lung function.   

Can CBD help with my anxiety?  

People suffering with mental health are turning to CBD to cope with the increased anxiety during COVID. So, there's a good possibility that CBD could play a role in assisting anxiety during COVID. CBD products have become known as an anti-anxiety supplement and there is plenty of research to back it up, with many clinical trials on humans already underway. However there is already enough proof of the benefits for…

-Generalised anxiety disorder  

-Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)  

-Panic disorder  

-Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)  

-Social anxiety disorder  

The link below is one of the countless studies that have been implemented. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/

We strongly advice all readers who want to take CBD oil to carry out their own research, and always ask a qualified professional for any further advice regarding taking CBD as a supplement for any illness or disease including the Coronavirus.