CBD for boosting your immune system against viruses is a hot topic nowadays, and research being conducted into the health benefits of CDB is gaining some notoriety.
Our immune system plays a pivotal role in our overall health as it protects your body from harmful infections and viruses. It creates, stores, and distributes your body’s white blood cells, which fight the bacteria and viruses that attack it.
Therefore, your immune system must be at its peak when winter approaches because, at this time of the year, your body is at its most vulnerable.
Influenza is one of the most severe and deadly viruses. According to the CDC, anywhere from 12,000 to 56,000 people die from the illness annually, with over 700,000 hospitalizations in the US alone.
While the flu is less severe, it still results in up to 200,000 hospitalizations annually, and up to 20% of Americans suffer from it. There is an increasing body of evidence that suggests that CBD could significantly boost your immune system and reduce the risk of contracting these viruses.
Let’s examine the immune system and explore some of the myths associated with it.
How Does the Immune System Keep Us Safe?
A dysfunctional immune system would mean our bodies would be subject to pathogens like bacteria and viruses, that could attack with no resistance to prevent them from causing havoc.
The immune system is a complex network that is capable of distinguishing our tissue from foreign bodies.
The immune system is a model of efficiency as it recognizes dead and faulty cells and eliminates them.
Generally, the immune system becomes more reliable as we age, although it slows down again once we approach our senior years. People are born with ‘innate’ immunity; however, we also create an ‘adaptive’ immunity from our environment in which we live.
When we are exposed to community diseases or receive vaccinations, our antibodies are strengthened against differing pathogens grows.
CBD for Boosting Your Immune System
There are many ‘natural’ ways to enhance our immune system.
Eat a healthy and balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables.
Get at least seven hours of good quality sleep a night.
Regular exercise helps to lower blood pressure and keeps your weight under control.
And surprisingly, there is another natural way of CBD boosting your immune system.
The CBD compound and its medicinal effects, on the Endocannabinoid System (ECS), is crucial.
CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties are vital in this process. As inflammation is the body’s natural response to infection, so increasing it can help defend against a virus.
Alternatively, too much inflammation is also a bad thing and is a feature of autoimmune diseases. Cancer and HIV/AIDS are two extreme examples of conditions marked by a significant decline in immune function.
A 2012 study by Velasco, Sanchez, and Guzman found that CBD triggers cell suicide in cancer cells. A 2015 survey by Thames et al. discovered that CBD resulted in lower viral loads in patients with HIV. They also had increased CD4 counts, a measurement of immune cells that kill HIV cells naturally.
According to Dr. David Allen, CBD potentially offers immune system control, which leads to better protection against viral infections. The immune system causes an inflammatory response when attacking a virus; the result is often cold and flu-type symptoms.
The body creates endocannabinoids to keep the immune reaction under control, but it doesn’t always fully control inflammation. CBD is a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis that could provide the ECS with a boost and ensure the inflammatory response is under control.
Finding High-Quality CBD Products?
To help you find the best CBD products both in terms of quality and value for money. You can consume it in oil form either by dropping it directly under your tongue or adding it to food or drink. You can also buy it in balm form to rub on your skin or via edibles, which are a convenient and delicious way to get enough CBD.
Look for these five essential elements of high-quality CBD products.
- CBD products are extracted from organic CBD-rich industrial hemp.
- Lab-verified CBD substance, the full-spectrum formula includes natural terpenes, flavonoids, and other phytocannabinoids.
- Research indicates that the smaller the CBD particles, the more useful it is for the body. Minimizing CBD increases bioavailability.
- The chemical-free CO2 extraction process that uses pressurized carbon dioxide to pull the desired phytochemicals (such as CBD) from a plant.
- Third-party tested for Cannabinoid Profiling, Pesticide Testing, Microbiological Screening, Terpene Analysis, and Residual Solvent Testing.
CBD Research
Like most research on cannabis compounds, a full clear picture of how effective CBD is when keeping the immune system healthy is still undetermined. However, the essential aspect is that it appears to be in the anti-inflammatory response it creates.
The immune system’s inflammatory response to antigens is supposed to be a good and natural reaction, but it can get out of control.
By consuming CBD regularly, you may reduce the impact of viruses such as cold and flu and possibly prevent severe conditions such as influenza. Preliminary research on cancer and HIV/AIDS patients suggests that the link between CBD and the immune system is a complex one.
There is anecdotal evidence of CBD for boosting your immune system, and many people are receiving amazing benefits from quality CBD products; however, scientific proof is lagging.
Perhaps this is due to the stranglehold that the pharmaceutical companies have on vaccines and drugs and that until they accept the evidence that CBD oil has many therapeutic health benefits, then the science may not follow.
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