Can Vaping CBD Help With Weight Loss?
Weight loss is a touchy subject. First of all, there are so many different approaches to weight loss, some that work and some that don’t, that the average person trying to get informed may end up being very confused.
CBD is often marketed as a weight-loss-option, and we’re here to see if vaping CBD can help with losing weight. We’re going to go through the current research and see what lies at the bottom of this story.
What is CBD?
CBD is a compound from the cannabinoid family most often found in cannabis plants. It is the second most prominent compound in cannabis, which can make up as much as 40% of the plant extract.
Unlike its more famous compound sibling, THC, CBD is not a psychoactive substance, meaning that you can’t get high from it. However, you can get other, more serious benefits to the point that CBD is prescribed as medicine these days.
The most common health issues resolved through the use of CBD are as follows:
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Depression
- Inflammation
- Chronic pain
As you can see, there are many upsides to it, and for most of these, there is conclusive research that shows CBD is beneficial. But what about weight loss?
CBD and weight loss
Unfortunately, we still don’t have enough research (especially on humans) to help us confirm that CBD improves your chances of losing weight. Nevertheless, we’re going to go through the potential benefits it has that can help you propel your body a healthier weight.
First of all, animal studies, mostly performed on lab rats, show that CBD does a couple of things relevant to weight loss.
First, by attaching itself to CB1 and CB2 receptors in rats, it boosts metabolism and lowers appetite. The effects of this are more potent with greater intake. It is important to note that the rats were injected with CBD during these experiments and that most of them showed significant signs of weight loss at the end of the test.
Another significant factor behind the CBD weight loss claim includes its effects on the fat in our bodies. Namely, there two types of fat in our bodies, brow fat and white fat.
White fat is the more common type that serves the purpose of providing cushioning for your organs and stores excess energy for later consumption. It is also the fat type associated with negative aspects of excess weight like diabetes, heart issues, etc.
Brow fat is its more healthy counterpart, which serves the purpose of warming the body through the burning of calories. People who have a healthy weight have more brown than white fat in their bodies. The brown fat variant can be produced through exercise, good sleeping habits, and cold temperature exposure.
In the lab, CBD has been shown to improve the conversion rate of white fat to brown fat, the process known as “browning” through enhancing the performance of genes and proteins responsible for the process. This was, however, a test-tube experiment and has yet to be confirmed in human studies.
Isn’t cannabis usually associated with improved appetite?
Yes, this is a prominent trope in movies and popular culture, the so-called munchies. Research shows that regular pot smokers tend to be, overall, less obese than their non-smoking counterparts.
Why are we talking about vaping CBD for weight loss?
Well, in a lot of cases, smokers do tend to weigh less than non-smokers, but they also tend to develop cancer, asthma, and other diseases, so we couldn’t recommend smoking things for CBD benefits. Overweight people already have an addiction, food, and adding smoking to the mix adds many bad things into our bodies and further clogs an already sub-optimal circulatory system.
Vaping CBD cartridges is a much safer way to get CBD into your system without adding cancerous substances. It doesn’t smell bad, you can vape almost anywhere, and it is much less addictive.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are some indications that CBD helps with weight loss, but few tests conducted on humans that science still doesn’t provide us with 100% accurate information about the subject.
Still, Reddit is filled with people who speak about their weight loss experience when using CBD, planned or otherwise. Being that CBD surely helps with anxiety, depression, and insomnia, it can certainly help us get in a better mood and exercise more.
If you are running out of options and are feeling unhappy about being overweight, CBD may help you get there. It can alleviate some of the negative feelings related to the state of things, which are commonly developed with lethargic and overweight people and help you remain motivated while trying to hold proper dieting and exercise.
