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A New Way to Fight Fatty Liver

How Does CBD Oil Support Your Liver?

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Stephen Holt, MD, PhD, FACP

Feb 6th, 2019

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Cannabidiol – commonly known as CBD oil – is an alternative medicine derived from cannabis that is becoming increasingly more popular. It is a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, meaning that – unlike THC – CBD oil will not give you the high that is usually associated with marijuana, but will still provide the other health benefits that marijuana is known to provide.

CBD is known to help treat a variety of ailments, making it very popular in the medical community. When you consider all of its benefits, it’s easy to understand why. (1)

Regardless of which plant the CBD comes from, there are two different types of CBD oil:

1. CBD Isolate – This type is considered more pure with no THC or terpenes.
2. Full Spectrum CBD – This type also has THC and terpenes in it, and can provide a slight high or what is known as “the entourage” effect.

CBD can be thought of a miracle drug in some ways, purely because it can help so many different health issues.

• Some people appreciate it’s anti-inflammatory qualities to help provide pain relief and reduce scarring in the liver.
• Others find it useful that it’s a non-habit forming alternative to over the counter medications for fighting various mental issues like anxiety, depression, or even PTSD.
• CBD has helped many people relax, focus better, fall asleep easier and enjoy a more restful, longer sleep.
• It has proven to be a good remedy for coping with the side effects of cancer treatment as well as potentially fighting cancer while reducing tumor growth.
• Its ability to interact with the sebaceous glands helps fight and reduce acne by controlling how much oil it secretes.
• Others are thankful for how CBD helps the heart by lowering blood pressure and fixing damage from diabetes and high blood sugar levels.

Studies are also showing that it can also provide liver support.

To put it lightly, there are many ways using CBD oil can help you.

This article will specifically be addressing how taking CBD oil can help your liver.

CBD Oil and Your Liver

One of your liver’s main functions is to filter blood coming from the digestive tract, removing toxins and other invaders before flowing through the rest of the body. It also secretes bile to aid in digestion and produces proteins that are needed for clotting blood and other functions.

Essentially, it’s responsible for making sure whatever is introduced into your system doesn’t hurt you, which is why you want to make sure it’s as healthy as possible. (3)

What follows are various ailments that harm your liver and how taking CBD oil can help reverse the damage and prevent them from happening again.

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a chronic liver disease that is becoming increasingly more common in the United States, primarily affecting those who drink little to no alcohol. It is when the liver’s fat cell content is higher than usual which can lead to scarring, causing the liver to not properly function.

If you have any of the following issues, you more than likely have a fatty liver:

• obesity
• diabetes
• heart disease

Recent studies on mice have shown that CBD was able to protect the test subjects from damage done to the liver as well as reduce the amount of fat accumulating in the liver. It was also found that CBD was able to reduce the harmful scarring effects brought on by elevated liver enzymes, which helped improve liver function. Furthermore, the study also found that CBD had an antioxidative, cytoprotective, anti-inflammatory effect on the mice, helping reduce pain and improving general health.

If these studies were to continue on humans, it appears that CBD could be an ideal way to treat NAFLD. (4)

Alcohol Related Damage

Binge drinking does a significant amount of damage on your liver. It can lead to scarring and potentially cirrhosis of the liver.

It’s really best to simply avoid drinking too much if you want to avoid this sort of damage.

But, if you’d already reached this point, beyond quitting drinking (seriously, you need to stop), CBD oil may be a good remedy for you. The previously mentioned study that was performed on mice found that CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties were able to reduce the cell damage and scarring caused by excessive amounts of alcohol consumption. This lead them to believe that CBD oil could be a potential remedy for both alcohol and non alcohol related damage to the liver. (4)

Viral Hepatitis

Viral hepatitis is an infection of the liver that causes damage and inflammation. It can potentially lead to scarring, liver failure, cancer, or even death.

CBD oil has shown the potential to aid in dealing with hepatitis.

1. First it has proven to reduce the depression that patients tend to suffer from when infected with hepatitis.
2. Next, CBD can help to relieve the patient of the severe pain that comes from hepatitis as well as work as an anti-inflammatory and reduce scarring.
3. Lastly, a lot of patients being treated for hepatitis either by chemotherapy or radiation have found that CBD can help treat the side effects associated with treatment, primarily nausea. (6)

Side Effects of CBD Oil

While CBD oil has very limited side effects beyond potential nausea, tiredness, and changes in appetite, there was one study that found CBD oil had a potential side effect related to the liver. In this study, 261 patients who suffer from epilepsy were treated with a combination of anti-seizure medication and CBD oil. The most common side effects were the already mentioned side effects which appeared in about 10% of the test subjects, but there was one incident of liver damage. It is unknown if the liver damage was due to CBD, the medication, or a combination of the two. More studies need to still be done on CBD oil and how it can have a negative effect on you. (5)

Conclusion

In conclusion, while there still need to be more human trials before scientists get a full picture of how CBD truly helps people, so far there is a pretty strong outlook for how taking CBD oil can help support your liver.

Whether it’s alcohol related damage, non-alcohol related damage, or general scarring, CBD has shown signs to potentially reduce the effects of liver damage. If you are considering taking CBD oil but are still worried about how you may be affected, consider consulting with your physician first.

About the Author

Stephen Holt, MD, PhD, FACP

Stephen Holt, M.D. is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine NYCPM (Emerite) and a medical practitioner in New York State. He has published many peer-review papers in medicine and he is a best-selling author with more than twenty books in national and international distribution. He has received many awards for teaching and research. Dr. Holt is a frequent lecturer at scientific meetings and healthcare facilities throughout the world. He is a best selling author and the founder of the Holt Institute of Medicine.