If you use CBD products, then you might be familiar with the term CBD entourage effect. This effect is created when different cannabinoids in cannabis or hemp plants are present together. If you are not aware of this effect, don’t worry, as we provide you all the information you want to know about the entourage effect. This will help you to reap the maximum benefits from your CBD products.
Cannabis And Hemp Plants
Before knowing more about the entourage effect, you should become familiar with the cannabis and hemp plants. This will help you to easily learn about the entourage effect.
The cannabis plant is a complex plant that contains a large number of compounds that exhibit medicinal properties. Even though it is known for the intoxicating effects across the world, this plant can actually provide a large number of benefits for us. Despite its benefits, this plant is banned in most of the countries around the world because of its euphoric effects and addiction. But a particular variety of cannabis plants, known as the hemp plant is now made legal in many countries. This plant does not create psychoactive effects because of the low concentrations of the psychoactive compound called THC.
THC is the culprit behind the intoxicating effects created by the cannabis plant. Hemp plants will have only 0.3% of THC, which is not enough for creating euphoric effects.
Similar to CBD, THC is also a cannabinoid. It is estimated that there are almost a hundred cannabinoids present in the cannabis plant. CBD and THC are two cannabinoids that are present in abundance, and most of the other cannabinoids are found in minute quantities. Each of these cannabinoids has its own properties, and they can provide different health benefits for humans.
In addition to cannabinoids, cannabis plants contain a large number of other compounds like terpenes, flavonoids, etc. These compounds are also found to have different benefits, especially terpenes. There are different types of terpenes that are capable of providing different health benefits. These compounds carry a large number of medicinal properties. Therefore, the combination of cannabinoids, terpenes, and all the other compounds made cannabis and hemp popular in the healthcare industry.
CBD, THC, and other cannabinoids along with terpenes and different compounds present in these plants are used in the medical sector for the treatment of a wide range of diseases. CBD and THC are the commonly used compounds among them, as they are the most researched compounds because of their abundance in the cannabis and hemp plants. All these compounds together create the entourage effect that we are discussing.
What Is The Entourage Effect?
As mentioned above, both cannabis and hemp plants contain a wide variety of compounds. When these compounds are present together, they will enhance the properties of each other thereby creating better results. Hence, you will get more effectiveness by using products that contain all these compounds rather than consuming CBD or THC alone.
You might have heard that full-spectrum or whole-plant CBD products provide better effects than CBD isolates. This is because of the entourage effect. Different cannabinoids are capable of creating the entourage effect when present together, and when terpenes are also added to this equation, it will double the benefits.
What Is The Application Of Entourage Effect?
You may have heard about pharmaceutical medicine called Sativex. Even though this medicine is not legal in the US, it is approved in the UK. This medication is used for the treatment of spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis.
Sativex contains a high concentration of THC, which is around 48 mg. This amount is enough for creating intoxicating effects in people (in fact, people might start to feel the euphoric effects beyond the range of 10mg). However, research suggests that only 4 out of 250 patients who used Sativex experienced mind-altering effects, and it hasn’t resulted in any adverse effects in other patients.
This is because of the fact that Sativex not only contains THC, but it also has CBD in equal quantity. The presence of CBD helped to counteract the negative effects caused by the THC because of the entourage effect created by the combination of these compounds. It is found that CBD has anti-psychoactive properties which are useful for minimizing the psychoactive effects caused by THC.
The Most Popular Entourage Effect
The interaction between CBD and THC is among the most cited entourage effects. THC can directly bind with the CB1 receptors in the body thereby resulting in intoxicating effects. But CBD has the ability to reduce the affinity of THC to bind with the CB1 receptors because of the CBD entourage. Therefore, you will feel less high when you take CBD and THC together than taking THC alone. In addition to this, the effectiveness of CBD will greatly increase when a small amount of THC is taken with it.
The entourage effect can increase the effectiveness of your CBD products. This effect is created when different compounds of hemp or cannabis plants are used together. Therefore, if you want to get the maximum benefits from CBD products, it is better to choose whole-plant products.