Lesser-Known Cannabis Component CBG Linked To Improved Memory And Reduced Anxiety, First-Ever Human Trial Finds

A lesser-known cannabinoid known as CBG has surprised scientists after a first-ever human clinical trial found that it appears to improve memory, while also “significantly” reducing anxiety and stress.

The non-intoxicating cannabinoid might not be as well-known as THC and CBD, for example, but as it’s grown in popularity, researchers at Washington State University (WSU) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) set out to investigate its therapeutic potential amid anecdotal, survey-based reports about its therapeutic potential.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports this month, found that cannabigerol, or CBG, caused a “significant overall reductions in anxiety as well as reductions in stress” among study participants compared to the placebo. “CBG also enhanced verbal memory relative to placebo,” with “no evidence of subjective drug effects or impairment.”

That finding about CBG’s effects on memory took the research team by surprise. Lead author and WSU associate professor of psychology Carrie Cuttler said in a press release that they “triple-checked to ensure accuracy, and the enhancement was statistically significant.”

“Relative to placebo, there was a significant main effect of CBG on overall reductions in anxiety as well as reductions in stress… CBG also enhanced verbal memory relative to placebo.”

“The finding that it significantly enhanced [memory] was kind of shocking to me and completely, entirely unexpected, which was why I triple-checked the direction and the result,” Cuttler told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Wednesday, adding that “we definitely want to replicate that finding before we make too big of a deal about it.”

Cannabigerol #CBG had promising clinical trial results: reducing anxiety without the intoxication typically associated with whole plant #cannabis — #WSU-led studyhttps://t.co/mfOmmm2qoS

— WSU News (@WSUNews) July 31, 2024

To assess the efficacy of CBG, researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled field trial where 34 healthy adults were given either 20mg of hemp-derived CBG or a placebo tincture over two sessions.

Participants were first asked to complete online assessments rating their anxiety, stress and mood. After administering the cannabinoid, they took another series of assessments, including a survey, stress test and verbal memory test.

“CBG may represent a novel option to reduce stress and anxiety in healthy adults,” the study authors said. “Results indicate that CBG reduces global feelings of anxiety and stress and that it may enhance memory in the absence of intoxication, impairment, or subjective drug effects.”

“CBG reduces subjective ratings of anxiety and stress in healthy cannabis-using adults in the absence of motor or cognitive impairment, intoxication, or other subjective drug effect.”

On average, cannabigerol was linked to an average 26.5 percent reduction in feelings of anxiety, and researchers also found a “significant effect of CBG on subjective stress ratings.”

But the results of the verbal memory test, which involved having participants listen to and immediately recall two sets of 16 words, were especially surprising to the research team.

“We hypothesized that CBG would not impair memory, but our finding that CBG significantly verbal memory was unexpected,” the study says.

Asked by Marijuana Moment whether she had any thoughts about why CBG might uniquely enhance memory, Cuttler said her working theory was that the reduced anxiety people feel after consuming the cannabinoid could potentially be at play. That is, the cognitive function could be bolstered when people are feeling less stressed or anxious.

The clinical trial was informed by an earlier survey that found 51 percent of people who use CBG say they primarily consume it to mitigate anxiety. Nearly 80 percent of CBG users said it was more effective at treating anxiety than conventional anxiety medications.

“CBG is becoming increasingly popular, with more producers making bold, unsubstantiated claims about its effects,” Cuttler said. “Our study is one of the first to provide evidence supporting some of these claims, helping to inform both consumers and the scientific community.”

Cuttler cautioned that the researchers don’t want the results of this novel study to give people the impression that “CBG is a miracle drug.”

“It’s new and exciting, but replication and further research are crucial,” she said. “Ongoing and future studies will help build a comprehensive understanding of CBG’s benefits and safety, potentially offering a new avenue for reducing feelings of anxiety and stress without the intoxicating effects of THC.”

Cuttler said she’s currently awaiting approval to carry out a follow-up clinical trial that would be conducted in-person in a laboratory setting, rather than via Zoom as was the case in this latest study, so that the team can substantiate the findings and also assess the physiological effects of CBG such as its impacts on blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol levels and body temperature.

She’s also in initial talks about a separate study investigating how CBG might affect menopause symptoms, and she told Marijuana Moment she’s interested in hearing from potential participants who might want to be involved in that research.

Meanwhile, another recent first-of-its-kind study found that applying CBD-infused lotion to the skin appears to be tied to a lower risk of damage from exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays.

A separate study on the possible therapeutic value of lesser-known compounds in cannabis that was published in the journal BioFactors says that a number of minor cannabinoids, including CBG, may have anticancer effects on blood cancer that warrant further study.

In May, industry-backed research into the potential anti-anxiety effects of cannabidiol separately found that an oral CBD solution effectively treated mild to moderate anxiety, as well as associated depression and poor sleep quality, with no serious adverse events observed.

CBD Lotion Tied To Reduced Skin Damage From UV Rays, New Study Finds

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

Marijuana Helps People Quit Using Prescription Sleep Aids And Allows Them To Wake Up More Focused And Refreshed, Study Indicates

A new survey of cannabis consumers with sleep issues found that most preferred to use marijuana instead of other sleep aids to help get to bed, reporting better outcomes the next morning and fewer side effects. Smoking joints or vaping products that contained THC, CBD and the terpene myrcene were especially popular.

Compared to using conventional sleep aids or no sleep aids at all, respondents reported that cannabis made them feel more refreshed, focused and better able to function the morning after, with fewer headaches and less nausea. But they also reported some side effects from marijuana use, including waking up feeling sleepy, anxious and irritable.

The study, conducted by a pair of psychology researchers at Washington State University (WSU), was published late last month in the journal Exploration of Medicine. Authors say they believe it’s the first research comparing cannabis to prescription sleep aids (PSAs) and over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids.

“In general, the use of cannabis for sleep-related issues was perceived as more advantageous than over-the-counter medications or prescription sleeps aids,” Carrie Cuttler, a WSU professor and one of the study co-authors, said in a press release on Monday. “Unlike long-acting sedatives and alcohol, cannabis was not associated with a ‘hangover’ effect, although individuals reported some lingering effects such as sleepiness and changes in mood.”

More than 80% of the 1,255 cannabis users surveyed for the #WSU-led analysis reported no longer using over the counter or prescription sleep aids such as melatonin and benzodiazepines. https://t.co/PpMuA8CL4V

— WSUOfficeofResearch (@WSU_Research) November 13, 2023

The WSU researchers surveyed 1,216 people for the study using the medical marijuana app Strainprint. Nearly two thirds (64.9 percent) of participants reported that they’d been suffering from sleep issues for at least five years, while nearly 70 percent said they’d been using cannabis to help with sleep for at least a year. A plurality of respondents (38 percent) said they’d been using marijuana for sleep for between one and three years.

Nearly 82 percent of the cannabis consumers said they do not currently use prescription or over the counter sleep medications, though more than half reported doing so in the past, indicating that they have some to see marijuana as a better option.

More than half the sample reported that they use cannabis every night to help fall asleep. Most respondents said they either smoke joints (46.1 percent), vape flower (42.6 percent) or use some form of cannabis oil (42.5 percent) before bed, although nearly a third said they use edibles and/or vape pens. Another 14.6 percent said they use cannabis in capsule form.

While inhaled forms of cannabis tend to be more popular among most consumers in general, authors said that those with sleep issues may prefer smoking and vaping “because of the short latency of onset with inhalation and the high percentage of respondents who indicated difficulty falling asleep.” They said they were surprised that edibles or capsules weren’t more popular “as these are longer lasting and as such may be more beneficial for maintaining sleep.”

In terms of product makeup, most respondents used high-THC products (60.0 percent), although 21.7 percent opted for a balanced THC–CBD blend. Asked about cannabinoids used for sleep, 78.8 percent said choose THC, 47.1 percent said CBD and 18.1 percent pointed to CBN.

As for terpenes, myrcene was the most popular (49.0 percent) followed by linalool (26.9 percent), limonene (24.7 percent) and beta caryophyllene (19.1 percent).

“One of the findings that surprised me was the fact that people are seeking the terpene myrcene in cannabis to assist with sleep,” Cuttler said in the WSU press release. “There is some evidence in the scientific literature to support that myrcene may help to promote sleep, so cannabis users seemed to have figured that out on their own.”

Asked to report how cannabis helps with their sleep, respondents said it relaxed their body (81.0 percent) and mind (83.0 percent), helped prevent interruptions in sleep (36.3 percent) and promoted a deeper (56.2 percent), longer (41.6 percent) sleep.

Of the 526 people who reported using prescription and OTC sleep aids in addition to marijuana, “significantly more reported that they feel more refreshed, more focused, and better able to function in the morning after using cannabis relative to OTC sleep aids, PSAs, or no sleep aids. Participants also reported fewer headaches and less nausea the morning after.”

“Participants reported feeling more refreshed, focused, better able to function, fewer headaches, and less nausea the morning after using cannabis for sleep than after using more conventional sleep aids or no sleep aids.”

Among those who used all three types of sleep aids, the report continues, “significantly more participants reported that they experience nausea, anxiety, and racing heart when using OTC sleep medications or PSAs compared to cannabis.”

Some side effects reported by participants are no surprise. Cannabis was more likely than other sleep aids, for example, to cause a dry mouth and red eyes. Other unintended consequences, however, were more noteworthy. For example, “significantly more participants endorsed feeling more sleepy, more anxious, and more irritable the morning after using cannabis relative to other sleep aids or no sleep aids,” the study says.

Those findings align with takeaways from past research that marijuana use can lead to longer sleep durations and fewer middle-of-the-night awakenings, but also more next-day fatigue.

Notably, researchers found that more than 60 percent of study participants reported getting six to eight hours of sleep when they used cannabis alone. Less than 20 percent, however, reported getting six to eight hours of sleep when using a prescription or OTC sleep aid, regardless of whether it was used in combination with marijuana.

“Overall the literature suggests that cannabis can be beneficial for some aspects of sleep,” authors wrote, “however, additional objective research is needed to determine which aspects of sleep are positively affected and which are negatively affected by cannabis.”

Despite marijuana’s potential side effects, researchers said they might be more tolerable for participants than side effects of other, more traditional sleep aids.

“These side effects may be less severe or impairing than the side effects they experience with other sleep aids,” the study says, “and therefore, contribute to the perception that cannabis is superior to more conventional sleep aids.”

Authors noted that their survey had a strong selection bias toward people who were already using cannabis because they perceive it to be helpful. “Not everyone is going to find that cannabis helps with their sleep,” Cuttler said in a statement, “and future research needs to employ more objective sleep measures to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of cannabis for sleep.”

Quality of sleep often arises in other studies into the potential benefits of marijuana, and generally, consumers say it enhances their rest. Two recent studies, for example—one involving people with chronic health conditions and another looking at people diagnosed with neurological disorders—found that sleep quality improved with cannabis use.

A 2019 study, meanwhile, found that people tended to purchase fewer OTC sleep medications when they have legal access to marijuana. In particular, authors of that study noted, “cannabis appears to compete favorably with OTC sleep aids, especially those containing diphenhydramine and doxylamine, which constitute 87.4% of the market for OTC sleep aids.”

States That Legalize Marijuana See ‘Significantly’ Lower Rate Of Cannabis Use Disorder Cases At ERs Compared To Non-Legal States, Study Finds