How can cannabidiol (CBD) mixed with skin lotion help alleviate skin damage from ultraviolet (UV) rays? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the potential benefits of using cream mixed with CBD to mitigate the UV-caused skin damage. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the health benefits of towards addressing UV-caused skin damage, which can lead to skin cancer.
For the study, the researchers had 19 participants use nano-CBD (nCBD) or vehicle cream twice a day for 14 days followed by being irradiated with equal to or less than 3 times the allowable does of UV erythema (skin redness), which was further followed 24 hours after the irradiation when the researchers observed and documented the amount of erythema on the participants. In the end, the researchers found that 21 percent of the participants with the nCBD had reduced evidence of erythema than the vehicle cream.
“This work highlights the protective potential of CBD against UVA-induced DNA and mtDNA [mitochondrial DNA] damage,” the study notes. “We demonstrated nCBD-treated samples had less profound UV-related epidermal hyperplasia, a reduction in UVA-associated increase in premutagenic marker OGG1, and a reduction of two major UVA-induced mtDNA deletions associated with skin photoaging.”
This study comes as the number of states who have legalized marijuana in some form (medical, recreational, or both) continues to increase across the country. Therefore, the number of studies being conducted to demonstrate the benefits of cannabis will undoubtedly increase, as well.
What new discoveries about cannabidiol and skin damage will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Marijuana Moment, DISA
