If you know anyone who takes CBG on the regular, they’ve probably told you they swear by it for anxiety.
While CBG’s close relative, CBD, has enjoyed a substantial amount of human clinical trials into effect on anxiety, seizures, and much more, up until this point, the evidence for CBG as a potential treatment for anxiety was largely anecdotal.
That’s all changed now on the heels of this recently published study by researchers at Washington State University.
For the first time, we have scientific evidence from a human clinical trial that CBG effectively helps relieve anxiety and stress. And it’s a watershed moment in the evolution of CBG as a viable plant medicine.
That’s because natural remedies, even if they’re effective, can often prove a dicey game when it comes to correct dosage.
Human clinical trials are ultimately what point medical practitioners in the right direction in terms of dosing and effects. This knowledge then trickles down to the public: the people who purchase cannabinoids from conscious manufacturers who have incorporated this knowledge into their branding.
The result is that consumers get a better idea of how to incorporate plant medicine on a practical level. This is just one of the reasons human clinical trials are pivotal for any natural therapeutic to take off.
In the past few years, CBG has become more popular among anxiety sufferers, which is partly what led Carrie Cuttler and her colleagues at Washington State to embark on their groundbreaking research:
"CBG is becoming increasingly popular, with more producers making bold, unsubstantiated claims about its effects. Our study is one of the first to provide evidence supporting some of these claims, helping to inform both consumers and the scientific community."
The double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study involved 34 healthy adult participants who were experienced cannabis users. Compared to the placebo, CBG showed a substantial overall decrease in stress and anxiety for all participants.
What’s more, the researchers found zero evidence that CBG is in any way impairing or intoxicating, a commonly unwanted effect of many popular anti-anxiety drugs.
Interestingly, the authors of the study admit in their discussion that even though CBG showed benefits for anxiety, they may have been too conservative with their dosing of just 20mg CBG.
The authors acknowledge that had they used a larger CBG dose or had participants take multiple doses per day, the findings may have been even more profound.
However, the low effective dose in the clinical trial is good news for consumers:
Most CBG products range from 10mg to 50mg CBG per serving, and CBG is substantially more expensive to produce compared to CBD and other cannabinoids.
If 20 milligrams is all it takes to feel a bit of legal, non-impairing, and natural stress relief, people can now more realistically incorporate CBG into their daily life to keep anxiety at bay.
