These days, there are lots of different hemp cannabinoids to keep track of as you put together your natural health routine. From CBD to THC and everything in-between, these compounds offer an incredibly wide range of benefits that’s getting wider all the time.
What are the different cannabinoids you can try, and how do their health benefits compare? Learn the answers in this guide, and discover why you should give full-spectrum or broad-spectrum CBD oil a try.
What Are Cannabinoids?
Cannabinoids are unique compounds found exclusively in Cannabis sativa. The cannabinoid THC was the first to reach international notoriety, but the global stance toward cannabis softened with the arrival of CBD, an entirely non-intoxicating cannabinoid for the new millennium.
Since CBD burst onto the scene around 2010, a variety of related compounds have also started appearing on the government-sanctioned industrial hemp market. Close relations to CBD like CBDa and CBDv have an obvious place in modern cannabinoid pharmacology, but researchers have also started making room for more obscure compounds like cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), and even cannabichromene (CBC).
Which Cannabinoids Are Most Popular?
These days, CBD and THC are about equally popular. THC is not available on the industrial hemp market, however, while CBD is widely present online and in brick-and-mortar retailers around the country.
Also rising in popularity are CBG and CBN, which have both shown massive growth in the last year or so especially. The four compounds we’ve described so far are abundant and easy to produce, but other substances — CBC and CBDv, for instance — aren’t yet available in hemp, meaning they have to be converted from other cannabinoids.
Cannabinoid Health Benefits Explained
Now, let’s take a look at what the science has to say regarding the potential health benefits of four of the most popular cannabinoids:
Health Benefits of CBD
Research conducted so far into CBD has mostly centered around this cannabinoid’s potential benefits against inflammation and neurological conditions like epilepsy. Researchers have also looked into the possible usefulness of CBD for sleep and anxiety disorders, and overall, it appears that CBD offers the average person impressively widespread health benefits with little to no drawbacks.
Health Benefits of THC
Originally prescribed in California for glaucoma and chemotherapy-induced nausea, THC is now often billed as an overall cure for life’s ills. Used incorrectly, though, THC has the potential to worsen your problems rather than alleviate them. The potential therapeutic benefits of THC have yet to be established, but its dangers are now well-known.
Health Benefits of CBG
While CBG is still less-researched than CBD, scientists are perhaps even more excited about this cannabinoid. A 2022 study, for instance, found that it was a form of CBG — not CBD — that showed the most promise as a potential therapy against COVID. Overall, scientists are very interested in the seeming combination of neurological and immunological benefits CBG appears to offer.
Health Benefits of CBN
Cannabinol is a derivative of THC, but it does not get you high. Instead, most users indicate that CBN makes them sleepy — though research confirming this benefit is scant at the moment. Keep an eye out for more data regarding the potential therapeutic benefits of CBN over the coming years.
Health Benefits of Other Cannabinoids
In this article, we’ve hardly scratched the surface of either:
- The cannabinoids that have so far been identified as potentially being beneficial,
- Or the full benefits of the four cannabinoids we’ve already discussed.
On the whole, cannabinoids are starting to look like the secret weapon in the ongoing battle for human health and wholeness. Everywhere you look, cannabinoids are imparting incredible benefits without considerable drawbacks — THC aside, of course.
With each cannabinoid having multiple forms and new cannabinoids being discovered every year, it’s clear we’ve only scratched the surface of the benefits these unique compounds might be able to offer. Expect already mainstream cannabinoids like CBD and CBG to become even more accepted over the next few years, allowing even more cannabinoids to also make their way into the public consciousness.
Summary: Which Cannabinoid Is Most Beneficial?
In the end, is one cannabinoid more beneficial than all the rest? While that might not quite be the case, it does appear that some cannabinoids are more useful than others.
Medical practitioners, for instance, have increasingly pushed aside THC in favor of CBD due to its reduced side effect profile and increased usefulness. With other cannabinoids — like CBN and CBC — we simply don’t know enough yet to determine if they’re particularly useful for human health or not.
The only way out of this unideal situation is further research. We strongly call on the international medical research community to continue investigating the potential effects of cannabinoids on human health, and we commend all the hardworking researchers who have been responsible for unveiling what we know about cannabinoids so far.
