Long before the legalization of hemp, the cannabis plant was considered a sacred medicine. It contains over 95 phytocannabinoids each with a range of health benefits. With much of our attention now focused on THC and CBD, we’ve only begun scratch the surface on what this plant can do. At Ba Organics, we’ve had a special focus from the beginning exploring the relationships between cannabinoids, stress, and immune function, and with that we had some vital questions to answer, like: why do we get sick? how does healing work? and, can we heal perpetually? We revolved this line of inquiry around one main contributing factor to disease known as oxidative stress: a slow and silent killer among notoriously busy working people. So our hypothesis began as follows: if we can reduce daily stress in a population, we can increase immune system functionality and simultaneously our resistance to disease.
"stress, through the action of stress hormones, has detrimental effects on immune function"
Once we really dove into the literature, we found an overwhelming amount of medical literature on the subject and immediately found our hypothesis being partially validated: “stress, through the action of stress hormones, has detrimental effects on immune function, including reduced NK cell activity, lymphocyte populations, lymphocyte proliferation, antibody production and reactivation of latent viral infections.” (Jeanette I.Webster Marketon) In other words, immune system functionality is directly connected to the body’s ability to ward off disease.
"oxidative stress is one of the central events onto which many neurodegenerative cascades converge"
Dealing with undue amounts of stress has some pretty nasty pitfalls, as well. Side effects include prolonged wound healing, impaired response to vaccination, and even the growth and progression of cancerous cells. Similarly, “oxidative stress is one of the central events onto which many neurodegenerative cascades converge,” such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. (Hampson et al. 1998; Chen and Buck 2000) So if continue travelling down this line of inquiry, we arrive at our next big question, "What role can cannabis play in homeostasis and healing?" And to go a bit further, “If a plant is grown with heavy-metal rich synthetic fertilizers (as in industrial farming) and coated with toxic pesticides, can it be considered medicine?" (The last answer should be obvious, but must be asked nonetheless.)
"cannabis plays a tremendous role in homeostasis"
If this is all very new for you, let us be the first to say: cannabis plays a tremendous role in generating homeostasis by interacting with our body’s very own endocannabinoid system which has special receptors for the plant’s seemingly mystical compounds. There are two main cannabinoid receptors located throughout the body, CB1 and CB2. Imprtant research dating back to the year 2000 unveiled right away that,
“non‐CB1‐binding components of Cannabis Sativa, cannabinol and cannabidiol, were shown to protect cells from oxidative stress.” (Hampson et al. 1998; Chen and Buck 2000).
So, a THC-free hemp extract has credible potential for reducing oxidative stress at the cellular level. This discovery has incredible implications for developing our daily stress-reducing therapies using cannabinoids, aiding in our body's natural ability to fight back against degradation and disease. Easy right? let's create an organic, pure and innovative cannabinoid delivery system which doesn't require smoke inhalation to become active in the body, is easily absorbed into the bloodstream, and contains natural immune-boosting vitamins and minerals. Oh wait... we have, and they're called: Adaptoids, the world's first dissolvable cannabinoid-infused, immune-boosting vitamins.
The research that exists is extremely promising, enough to put a serious dent in the self-serving pharmaceutical industry, and promote positive change in the everyday lives of individuals. Our hope is that as we continue to learn and understand the devastating effects of undue stress on our bodies, people will continue to move towards natural botanical remedies for the maintenance of good health and general resilience.
Adaptoids are an easy first step in the direction of good health.
Sources:
Jeanette I.Webster Marketon, RonaldGlaser. (2008) Stress Hormones and Immune Function. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cellimm.2007.09.006
Giovanni Marsicano Bernd Moosmann Heike Hermann Beat Lutz Christian Behl. (2002) Neuroprotective properties of cannabinoids against oxidative stress: role of the cannabinoid receptor CB1. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0022-3042.2001.00716.x
Chen Y. and Buck J. (2000) Cannabinoids protect cells from oxidative cell death: a receptor‐independent mechanism. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 293, 807– 812.
