If you follow news about cannabinoids, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard CBG brought up a few times. Some people claim that it could potentially be the next CBD, but could it actually be that good?
There’s some room for speculation, and there’s a lot of information that could suggest that CBG is a miracle cure.
What exactly is CBG? What does it do, and how can it help you?
These are the questions that we hope to answer for you today, and with any luck, after you finish reading this article you’ll be able to make your own informed decision about whether or not it’s something you want to try for yourself.
What Exactly is CBG?
Before getting into any potential alternative health benefits that CBG might have, it’s important to make sure that we all understand exactly what it is that we’re talking about. CBG is one of the cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant.
In fact, CBG is actually one of over 120 different cannabinoids found in plants in the cannabis family. As you may have already guessed, CBG is an abbreviation as well as the commonly used name for the compound. The true, scientific name for this compound is Cannabigerol.
CBG is considered to be a minor cannabinoid because it’s usually found in concentrations of less than one percent. It’s a precursor to the three major cannabinoids that almost everyone knows, THCA, CBDA, and CBCA. The breakdown of CBG is usually caused either by ultraviolet light or heat and once the chemical reaction takes place you’re left with one of the primary cannabinoids.
There are some growers that have tried experimenting with genetic manipulation as well as cross-breeding in an attempt to get higher CBG yields from their plants, and there are scientists that specialize in the extraction of this compound to make obtaining the minor cannabinoid easier.
How Does CBG Interact With Your Body?
CBG is a lot like many of the other cannabinoids, meaning that it interacts with your body in the same way.
Your body has two cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2. These receptors are a part of the larger endocannabinoid system, and they regulate all sorts of your body’s functions. These two receptors are responsible for regulating things like pain reception, metabolism, appetite, immune responses, and many more.
Cannabinoids like CBG work by binding to the cannabinoid receptors and altering the way that they function. That means that some of them could potentially ease discomfort, increase your appetite, help you relax, and, potentially, do many other things that scientists continue to research. What the specific cannabinoid can do depends on how it interacts with your cannabinoid receptors and what it does both to your brain and, in turn, to your body.
The exact, specific interactions are incredibly complex and are still being studied to this day, and it would take much longer than we have for this article to get into the real nitty-gritty of how it works on a chemical and molecular level, but scientists have discovered enough about it to give a basic road map of how it works.
What Does CBG Do?
It is said that CBG has a lot of the same potential benefits that CBD has. That makes sense if you consider the fact that CBG is a precursor to CBD. Many people claim that CBG, like CBD, is especially good for easing discomfort without any of the psychoactive effects that THC has.
That’s one of the many reasons why many people enjoy CBG, as well as CBD. There have been studies to see how it might help various medical conditions, but without any human trials, it’s purely anecdotal evidence we can rely on at this time and hard to say, scientifically, for sure, how beneficial it is for helping these conditions in humans.
The most promising study that was done was in 2020 which studied the anti-bacterial properties of CBG, but more research is needed before that information can be used in any practical sense.
One of the most promising conditions CBG has been anecdotally touted as being effective for is pain and inflammation relief. Additionally, there is some research that suggests it may help with other issues including intraocular eye pressure and inflammatory bowel issues as some have shared.
It’s also believed that CBG can help suppress appetite and help with relaxation, which makes it very popular among dieters and people who have trouble unwinding after a long day. All of the effects of this compound are unknown at this time, but many believe that after more research it will be revealed that it can help with a lot more than we realize. At the moment, that’s nothing more than speculation. Only time and research will tell exactly how cannabinoids like CBG can help humans.
What is the Difference Between CBD and CBG?
CBD and CBG are very similar in a lot of ways. They’re both cannabinoids found in plants in the cannabis family, they both help with a lot of the same issues. Both CBD and CBG are non-psychoactive, which means that they won’t get you high after ingestion or topical application. But what really is the difference between these two compounds?
One of the biggest differences between the two cannabinoids is availability. CBD can be found in levels of up to 25% in hemp plants, while on average less than 1% of hemp is CBG. There has been a lot more research done on CBD than CBG, so there’s a lot more unknown about CBG. It is believed that CBG may be more effective because it binds to both of the cannabinoid receptors instead of just one of them.
Because CBG is less present in the plant means that the cost for its incorporation in a product is more costly. Note to self, if you are considering a product that touts its inclusion of CBG and it’s inexpensive, it’s likely not a high quality product that will provide the relief you deserve. As we always say, “You get what you pay for.”
Would it be Worth the Time and Money to get a CBG Supplement?
Inflammation and discomfort can be disruptive to your overall health and well-being. If you are a person that has been struggling with some of these issues and wish to consider a natural plant-based alternative that is effective, you may wish to consider ingestible and topical products that include CBG. Before doing so, you should always consult with your health care practitioner to ensure that it pairs well with your current medications. Especially considering there’s not enough research to know how it may interact with your medications.
How to Pick the Best CBG Supplement.
When you’re shopping for supplements, especially cannabinoid supplements, it’s important that you’re getting what you’re looking for. There are a lot of ways that you can make sure, and here are just a few of them:
- Check online for company reviews. Finding out what people on the internet are saying about the company may help you make a more educated choice about if you want to trust them or not.
- Look over the ingredients for the supplement. This is incredibly important because you want to be sure you know exactly what is in your supplement so you can feel confident that you’re getting what you’re looking and paying for.
- Find out where the hemp for the supplement is grown. This step is very important because it tells you a lot about the quality of the hemp that was used to make the supplement. You more than likely want to be sure that the hemp was grown in the United States for the highest quality. In some cases, companies will source their hemp from countries that are overseas and that can leave you with sub-par products that won’t work the way that they claim or should.
- If the company uses a 3rd party lab to test its products, make sure to get the lab report and read over it. It’s typically considered to be a good idea to only buy CBD from companies that use independent, full panel lab testing because that shows that they care about making sure that their products are safe enough for your consumption.
- Take a good look at the website for any company that you want to do business with. It may seem obvious at times, but some people don’t look at the website itself. If the website is full of helpful information and easy to use, there’s a good chance that it’s trustworthy.
- If they make false promises to treat or cure medical issues, that is illegal and not a company you should purchase products from.
These are just a few things that you can use to make sure that you’re keeping yourself safe when purchasing CBD online. Sometimes it can take a few orders to find a product that really works perfectly for you, but there are a lot of products available to choose from.
Make Sure You Get the Most out of Your Supplements
There are a plethora of cannabinoids found in the hemp that may potentially help you with holistic alternatives for different ailments so doing your research to make sure you know as much as you can is incredibly important. Whether you want to try CBG and be on the cutting edge of cannabinoid users, or you’d rather find yourself a good full-spectrum CBD tincture, there are plenty of ways to find exactly what you’re looking for. As time goes on, we can likely expect more and more research to be done on these cannabinoids, and who knows what benefits we’ll be able to discover.