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Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?

Cannabidiol (CBD)-containing products are widely marketed as over the counter products, mostly as food supplements. Adverse effects reported in anecdotal consumer reports or during clinical studies were first assumed to be due to acid-catalysed cyclization of CBD to psychotropic Δ (9)tetrahydrocanna...

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Autores principales: Lachenmeier, Dirk W., Habel, Stephanie, Fischer, Berit, Herbi, Frauke, Zerbe, Yvonne, Bock, Verena, Rajcic de Rezende, Tabata, Walch, Stephan G., Sproll, Constanze
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: F1000 Research Limited 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029751/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32117565
http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.19931.6
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author Lachenmeier, Dirk W.
Habel, Stephanie
Fischer, Berit
Herbi, Frauke
Zerbe, Yvonne
Bock, Verena
Rajcic de Rezende, Tabata
Walch, Stephan G.
Sproll, Constanze
author_facet Lachenmeier, Dirk W.
Habel, Stephanie
Fischer, Berit
Herbi, Frauke
Zerbe, Yvonne
Bock, Verena
Rajcic de Rezende, Tabata
Walch, Stephan G.
Sproll, Constanze
author_sort Lachenmeier, Dirk W.
collection PubMed
description Cannabidiol (CBD)-containing products are widely marketed as over the counter products, mostly as food supplements. Adverse effects reported in anecdotal consumer reports or during clinical studies were first assumed to be due to acid-catalysed cyclization of CBD to psychotropic Δ (9)tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ (9)-THC) in the stomach after oral consumption. However, research of pure CBD solutions stored in simulated gastric juice or subjected to various storage conditions such as heat and light with specific liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) and ultra-high pressure liquid chromatographic/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometric (UPLC-QTOF) analyses was unable to confirm THC formation. Another hypothesis for the adverse effects of CBD products may be residual Δ (9)-THC concentrations in the products as contamination, because most of them are based on hemp extracts containing the full spectrum of cannabinoids besides CBD. Analyses of 362 hemp-based products of the German market (mostly CBD oils) confirmed this hypothesis: 39 products (11%) contained Δ (9)-THC above the lowest observed adverse effect level (2.5 mg/day). Hence, it may be assumed that the adverse effects of some commercial CBD products are based on a low-dose effect of Δ (9)-THC, with the safety of CBD itself currently being unclear with significant uncertainties regarding possible liver and reproductive toxicity. The safety, efficacy and purity of commercial CBD products is highly questionable, and all of the products in our sample collection showed various non-conformities to European food law such as unsafe Δ (9)-THC levels, hemp extracts or CBD isolates as non-approved novel food ingredients, non-approved health claims, and deficits in mandatory food labelling requirements. In view of the growing market for such lifestyle products, the effectiveness of the instrument of food business operators' own responsibility for product safety and regulatory compliance must obviously be challenged, and a strong regulatory framework for hemp products needs to be devised.
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spelling pubmed-70297512020-02-27 Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination? Lachenmeier, Dirk W. Habel, Stephanie Fischer, Berit Herbi, Frauke Zerbe, Yvonne Bock, Verena Rajcic de Rezende, Tabata Walch, Stephan G. Sproll, Constanze F1000Res Brief Report Cannabidiol (CBD)-containing products are widely marketed as over the counter products, mostly as food supplements. Adverse effects reported in anecdotal consumer reports or during clinical studies were first assumed to be due to acid-catalysed cyclization of CBD to psychotropic Δ (9)tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ (9)-THC) in the stomach after oral consumption. However, research of pure CBD solutions stored in simulated gastric juice or subjected to various storage conditions such as heat and light with specific liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) and ultra-high pressure liquid chromatographic/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometric (UPLC-QTOF) analyses was unable to confirm THC formation. Another hypothesis for the adverse effects of CBD products may be residual Δ (9)-THC concentrations in the products as contamination, because most of them are based on hemp extracts containing the full spectrum of cannabinoids besides CBD. Analyses of 362 hemp-based products of the German market (mostly CBD oils) confirmed this hypothesis: 39 products (11%) contained Δ (9)-THC above the lowest observed adverse effect level (2.5 mg/day). Hence, it may be assumed that the adverse effects of some commercial CBD products are based on a low-dose effect of Δ (9)-THC, with the safety of CBD itself currently being unclear with significant uncertainties regarding possible liver and reproductive toxicity. The safety, efficacy and purity of commercial CBD products is highly questionable, and all of the products in our sample collection showed various non-conformities to European food law such as unsafe Δ (9)-THC levels, hemp extracts or CBD isolates as non-approved novel food ingredients, non-approved health claims, and deficits in mandatory food labelling requirements. In view of the growing market for such lifestyle products, the effectiveness of the instrument of food business operators' own responsibility for product safety and regulatory compliance must obviously be challenged, and a strong regulatory framework for hemp products needs to be devised. F1000 Research Limited 2023-05-26 /pmc/articles/PMC7029751/ /pubmed/32117565 http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.19931.6 Text en Copyright: © 2023 Lachenmeier DW et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Brief Report
Lachenmeier, Dirk W.
Habel, Stephanie
Fischer, Berit
Herbi, Frauke
Zerbe, Yvonne
Bock, Verena
Rajcic de Rezende, Tabata
Walch, Stephan G.
Sproll, Constanze
Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?
title Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?
title_full Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?
title_fullStr Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?
title_full_unstemmed Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?
title_short Are adverse effects of cannabidiol (CBD) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination?
title_sort are adverse effects of cannabidiol (cbd) products caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (thc) contamination?
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029751/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32117565
http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.19931.6
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