After 33 states have allowed the use of medical marijuana, most of our attention is focused on two of its most popular cannabinoids (compounds we can extract from cannabis) — CBD and THC. While these two compounds alone can provide a broad spectrum of cure to many of the diseases today, scientists are continuously looking for breakthrough compounds that can give a different experience to patients and a new cannabis product to market. After all, in more than a hundred cannabinoids that researchers have extracted and identified, there is a big possibility that they can pick another compound as useful as CBD and THC.
Recently, scientists have successfully isolated a cannabis compound they called CBN. No, this is not a typographical error of CBD. Experts discovered CBN (cannabinol) from specific parts of weed. The good news is, like CBD and THC, this compound provides a unique set of benefits to your health.
Shedding Light on CBD and CBN
While cannabinol is a relatively new term in the cannabis world, it can stand on its own like its cannabinoid cousins. But to know more about this substance, let’s compare it with the more popular cannabidiol, which is one of the primary compounds in a marijuana or hemp plant. Many doctors, including WHO researchers, favor CBD over THC because it will not alter your mood with taking.
Despite its similarity in spelling to CBD, CBN is a byproduct of THC when exposed to oxygen and UV light. Since CBN comes from THC, it has mild psychoactive properties. As such, CBN can give you a tolerable high that you need in some instances like relaxation. Apart from this, it is a sedative that can put you into a deep sleep.
Since it is a cannabis compound, CBN can interact with the endocannabinoid system, a group of receptors in our body that regulates the release and hormones and neurotransmitters, hence affecting your energy, mood, focus, memory, appetite and immune function. And since it’s chemical composition is nearly identical to cannabidiol, CBN can exhibit the same benefits in the body, including pain relief, anti-inflammation properties, and slumber quality enhancement.
But while CBD and CBN act similarly on the body, they have contradicting effects on a person’s eating habits. Cannabinol is ideal for weight gain as it encourages users to eat more. On the other hand, CBD works best in weight loss as it reduces appetite.
As a stand-alone cannabinoid, cannabis experts expect more research on CBN’s potentials and its various potential benefits to the body. But for now, doctors rarely prescribe CBN to their patients, so you need to wait for some time to use it as a medicine that complements with CBD oil or THC oil.
