Does CBD Kill Bacteria? What to Know – Healthline

When it comes to cannabis, most attention centers around two parts of the plant: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the component that produces the high sensation, and cannabidiol (CBD), the part typically used for medicinal purposes.

As you might already know, CBD enjoys a lot of popularity in the wellness field. Its widely used as an alternative remedy for conditions ranging from nausea to chronic pain. Some people even find it helpful for easing mental health symptoms like anxiety.

Until 2018, it was difficult to get government approval to study CBD, so most of the research exploring its uses is quite new. One emerging area of study thats gathered a lot of excitement? CBDs antimicrobial traits.

As it turns out, CBD actually does a pretty good job killing bacteria even some strains that are resistant to traditional antibiotics. Having a potential weapon against these supergerms could save a lot of lives.

Read on to learn what experts know about CBDs ability to kill bacteria and what this means for you.

CBD can kill both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Both types of bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics. However, Gram-positive bacteria usually prove much harder to kill because they have thicker protective membranes.

According to a 2021 study, it takes very little CBD to kill most Gram-positive bacteria. CBD can even destroy species that have developed resistance to multiple drugs, such as:

Among the Gram-negative bacteria also studied, 20 species survived CBD exposure. This wasnt too surprising, since scientists havent come up with any new classes of antibiotics to treat Gram-negative bacteria since 1962.

What the researchers did find surprising? CBD could kill four kinds of Gram-negative bacteria, all of which have a history of drug resistance and can be life-threatening:

Overall, CBD seems to show promise as a versatile antimicrobial agent.

That said, the researchers did reported numerous conflicts of interest, the main one being that the pharmaceutical company Botanix funded much of the study. Botanix makes a topical CBD formula thats currently undergoing clinical trials.

However, other studies without conflicts of interest have reported similar findings. For example, a 2022 study found CBD can fight Salmonella typhimurium, a Gram-negative bacteria that attacks your stomach and intestines. Around 59 percent of salmonella infections resistant to ampicillin (a specialized antibiotic used to treat salmonella) involve the typhimurium strain.

CBDs ability to fight bacteria is potentially a huge deal. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate 2.8 million people develop an antibiotic-resistant infection each year, and around 35,000 people die from these infections.

Cannabidiol appears to kill many of the more harmful bacteria species, including:

These numbers come from the 2019 CDC report Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States.

MRSA, in particular, appears to have a much harder time mustering resistance against CBD than against antibiotics. The 2021 study measured drug resistance by growing MRSA in petri dishes and measuring the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), or amount of substance needed to kill all the bacteria in the dish.

The antibiotic daptomycins MIC increased 26-fold over 20 days of exposure. In other words, the MRSA bacteria developed so much drug resistance after 20 days that it took 26 times the original amount of daptomycin to kill it.

Meanwhile, cannabidiols MIC only increased by a factor of 1.5. Relatively speaking, MRSA barely developed any resistance against CBD.

CBD isnt avoiding resistance just because its new to the bacteria battlefield. Theres something special about how CBD functions that makes it harder for bacteria to adapt.

Many drug-resistant bacteria defend themselves by preventing antibiotics from entering their cells. Common antibiotic-fighting tactics include:

Yet CBD doesnt need to enter the bacteria to kill it. Instead, it attacks bacteria membranes, popping cells like microscopic water balloons. Bacteria cells dont have defined organelles the way animal and plant cells do. Their innards are more like a soup that just spills out into the void, once something destroys the membrane keeping everything together.

But some traditional antibiotics, like penicillin, also kill bacteria by destroying their membranes. Further research may help experts determine which specific molecules CBD targets and why CBD appears more effective than antibiotics at breaking down certain kinds of bacterial membranes.

Despite this encouraging lab performance, CBD is far from ready to be used as antimicrobial treatment in the real world. This substance has a major weakness that keeps it from becoming a miracle drug: It binds to protein very easily.

When CBD enters your bloodstream, most of it will latch on to proteins in your plasma. CBD doesnt kill human proteins like it does germs, but it does become glued to those cells. Only 10 to 14 percent of CBD will remain floating free and available to attack bacteria. Even if the CBD does reach the site of the infection, other tempting proteins might lure it away.

In a nutshell, taking cannabis or CBD oil most likely wont help you fight off an infection. CBD spreads too much through the body to launch a targeted attack against bacteria. And you cant exactly flood your system with CBD without risking an overdose.

Scientists continue to study ways to take advantage of CBDs bacteria-fighting potential. Possibilities include formulas to transport CBD directly to the bacteria in an infection, or synthetic CBD that ignores human proteins and focuses only on attacking bacteria.

Animal and human studies to date have found the most success with oral formulas. Rather than an injection, future CBD treatments may take the form of a nasal spray or pill.

In short, while CBD gummies cant currently treat infection, its possible you could take an antimicrobial CBD gummy in the future.

You may not be able to harness CBDs antimicrobial potential just yet. Still, you might notice some benefits when using CBD for pain or anxiety.

A few helpful reminders before you try CBD:

CBD has the ability to kill certain species of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Even so, it likely wont replace antibiotics anytime soon.

Experts need to conduct more research to determine exactly how CBD functions in the human body before they can put it to use as a treatment for infections.

Emily Swaim is a freelance health writer and editor who specializes in psychology. She has a BA in English from Kenyon College and an MFA in writing from California College of the Arts. In 2021, she received her Board of Editors in Life Sciences (BELS) certification. You can find more of her work on GoodTherapy, Verywell, Investopedia, Vox, and Insider. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Does CBD Kill Bacteria? What to Know - Healthline