What do you know about CBG from hemp? Ostensibly, this blog is to talk about CBG from hemp and what it is. But here’s the thing. I can’t talk just about CBG without giving you context. So, let’s start with hemp. Hemp is an overachieving, underappreciated plant that really needs some pats on the, uh, buds. Grown and used medicinally for ages, hemp’s versatility is legion.
For instance, the seed and flowers provide raw materials that can be used in food, organic body care and other products that have medicinal value, including:
- Bread, granola, milk, cereal, and protein powder from the nuts.
- Fuel, lubricants, ink, varnish, paint, dressings, margarine, body products and cosmetics from the oil.
- Animal food and flour from the cake.
The fibers and stalks are used in hemp clothing, construction materials, paper, biofuel, plastic composites and more including:
- Animal bedding, mulch, chemical absorbent, fiberboard, insulation and concrete from the Hurd, or coarse parts of the plant that adhere to the fiber after it’s separated from the stalk.
- Rope, netting, canvas, carpet, clothes, shoes and bags from the bast fiber, or vascular tissue of the plant.
- Cardboard, paper products and filters from the stalk.
Unfortunately, to create hemp products in the United States, we need to import it from other countries. Why? Well, out of ignorance, hemp was tarred with the same brush that tarred marijuana, and in 1957 was banished from agriculture. Although recently, because of the Farm Act, hemp has lost some of its edge. So, more hemp is being grown in the United States and extracted from these organic plants that not only nourish the soil around it, but don’t need to be controlled with pesticides. Just saying.
Cannabinoids and hemp
Hemp produces about 100 cannabinoids, including the more recognized and prolific CBD, or cannabidiol, and THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, which produces the high. Now, here’s what’s interesting. Before any of the other cannabinoids form, there is CBG. It starts as CBGA (cannabigerolic acid), the precursor to the acidic forms of CBD and THC (CBDA and THCA). From that auspicious beginning, come the rest of the natural hemp components that interact so favorably with every body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS).
CBG and CBD differences
CBG shares similarities with CBD in that they’re both nonpsychoactive and are believed to have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. However, CBG is found in much smaller quantities in hemp. Due to its low concentrations (less than 2% in hemp), it’s considered a minor cannabinoid.
CBG, like CBD, works with the ECS. Here’s a quick refresher about how cannabinoids interact with the ECS. Everyday stress and environmental factors can compromise your ECS, which can create deficiency. The ECS has little soldiers traveling throughout our bodies’ systems, monitoring the balance. These are the CB1 and CB2 receptors. Researchers tend to believe that a deficiency is the cause of multiple underlying health issues. But supplemental CBD and CBG can fill in where there are deficiencies, helping the ECS keep up its balancing act.
The difference between CBG and CBD is how they interact with the ECS and the receptors. Both seem to indirectly interact with the CB1 receptors, which are in the human nervous system. They prevent other chemical messengers from binding with them. They interact differently with the CB2 receptors found in your immune system. CBG binds directly with those receptors, which may stimulate a number of physiological responses different to those produced by CBD.
The power of entourage
Although it’s possible to isolate CBG, it does so at a cost. CBG is difficult to find as an isolate because the hemp plant produces lower amounts of it than CBD. However, growers are crossbreeding plants to help kick up the volume of CBG. They are also experimenting with extraction methods to find the most efficient way to remove CBG. When you isolate a cannabinoid such as CBG, you get he purest form of CBG taken from the hemp, leaving behind everything else.
But, when the cannabinoids work together so well with all other hemp components, why would you turn to an isolate? There may be specific therapeutic reasons, but that’s a discussion for you to have with your doctor. You see, all the components in a full-spectrum hemp oil (FSHO), work together to create what is called the entourage effect. Lost Remedy uses FSHO. Full spectrum means that all of the cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids and other components present in hemp are in the oil. Those components working together is what gives CBD its punch. That entourage effect makes the sum of all the components greater than the parts.
Put a different way, essentially, the entourage effect is when all the components of the CBD work in concert to support your health. CBD is just one of many components derived from hemp. True the others appear in lesser quantity than CBD, but they are important in supporting what CBD does in our bodies.
Isolate or FSHO?
However, if you want to experience cannabinoids without the possibility of THC being present, you’ve got choices. Isolates have no other cannabinoids, while broad-spectrum and full-spectrum CBD have numerous cannabinoids. Full spectrum is the only CBD oil with THC.
Now, there are companies that put a CBD isolate in coconut oil, bottle it, and sell it as a medicine. But without other cannabinoids, it doesn’t have the same power. Plus, topicals such as the Lost Remedy health and beauty products, don’t travel through the bloodstream and won’t get you high. Our topicals are made with FSHO and when help relieve certain conditions without side effects. They tend to focus on the condition and work quickly to relieve it.