Learn how to boost your immune system with CBD Oil

The demand for CBD oil is growing at a quick pace, and people worldwide are becoming increasingly aware and interested. Still, most of us don’t really know what CBD is or isn’t, and we are here to clarify things for you. CBD is an acronym for Cannabidiol, which is one of 113 Phytocannabinoid compounds in hemp.

In stark contrast with THC, CBD is non-psychoactive and has many wholesome uses, among which are pain relief, immune aid, and heart health support, just to name a few. One of the most notable and relevant of which, especially in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, is an immune system boost. It is only these beneficial uses that CBD products are there to provide, without the psychoactive effects of Cannabis. In fact, quality CBD products are made from industrial Hemp plants also grown to make fabric and other commercial products. By US law, these plants cannot contain over 0.3% of THC - a trivial amount.

CBD oil health benefits cbd oil in a dropper.

CBD products come in a variety of forms, with CBD oil being by far the most popular one. These oils contain a CBD extract in an oil base, which helps the CBD get absorbed into the body. CBD oils can be used in a variety of ways. Most people put a few drops of the oil underneath their tongue, which allows the oil to be absorbed directly into the blood through the fine capillaries. However, you can also apply the oil topically to ease joint pain and dry and acne-prone skin or even add it to your food and drinks.

The recommended dosage will depend on your weight and personal preference. Most resources suggest starting with a small dose, 20-40 mg a day for the first 7 days and then building up to a dosage you feel comfortable with, in 5 mg increments every week. Please note it's not recommended to use CBD oil more frequently than every 4-6 hours.

CBD oil health benefits man suffering from back pain
In order to understand how CBD can influence our immune system, we'll need to get a bit scientific. The Endocannabinoid system refers to a network of Cannabinoid receptors scattered throughout the central and peripheral nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves) that participates in the regulation of a wide range of bodily functions, such as mood, cognitive processes, memory, appetite, pain sensation, as well as the immune system. More specifically, Endocannabinoids, or the neurotransmitters our body produces, were found to decrease the level of inflammation in the body, and some scientists now believe that Phytocannabinoids, such as CBD, which bind to the same receptor, can thus have a similar effect.

Apart from that, CBD is widely used to decrease the impact of chronic day-to-day stress, which is known to affect our immune health. This way, CBD oil can have a twofold beneficial effect on our immunity, which is especially important right now when dangerous infectious diseases, such as the Coronavirus, are running rampant across the globe and we could use all the help we can get to protect ourselves.

A CBD oil we can certainly vouch for and highly recommend is The KAYAVAX CBD Oil - a US-based family business. This product comes in a variety of CBD concentrations (500mg - 3000mg), which makes it an excellent choice for both those who want to ease their way into CBD products and those who are looking for the highest and most potent concentration of CBD. KAYAVAX carefully source each ingredient in their CBD Oil, as well as other products, and they abide by the highest quality standards on the market, so you can rest assured that it's a safe and all-around superior CBD oil.  

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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FDA Warning Says the Chemicals in Sunscreen Can Be Absorbed In Your Bloodstream—Here's What That Means

We know you’ve been told all your life to slather on the sunscreen before a day spent outside. We’re not disputing that advice, but a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association has given us some food for thought: There’s a chance that sunscreen could potentially be dangerous.

Here’s how: Sunscreen ingredients can travel through the skin and build up in the bloodstream, the new report suggests. This finding has raised concerns about how sunscreen might affect reproductive and developmental health and whether it can cause cancer, according to an editorial accompanying the new report.

For the new study, scientists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) studied the effects of sunscreen on 24 healthy people. They tested four different sunscreens—two sprays, one lotion, and one cream—each applied four times a day, to 75% of the body surface, for four days.

Blood samples were then taken from the participants to determine how much of four specific sunscreen ingredients—avobenzone, oxybenzone, ecamsule, and octocrylene—ended up in their bloodstreams. And it turns out, it was a significant amount.

A bit of background: The FDA recommends that any active ingredients in sunscreen with “systemic absorption greater than 0.5 ng/mL” should undergo toxicology studies, including research on developmental, reproductive, and cancer-related health issues. And sure enough, all four of those ingredients were found at levels greater than that FDA benchmark—some at levels six or even eight times higher.

That certainly sounds concerning. But before we freak out about how much sunscreen we’ve been putting on for the last 10 years, let’s consider a few key aspects of this new research. First, the number of participants evaluated—24—is quite low, and the results only showed blood levels of these chemicals over the course of one week.

Second, the report isn’t claiming that these chemicals are actually unsafe, or that sunscreen should be pulled from supermarket shelves. In fact, it doesn’t even recommend throwing your sunscreen out. “These results do not indicate that individuals should refrain from the use of sunscreen,” it says.

What the report does say is that we need to know more. “The systemic absorption of sunscreen ingredients supports the need for further studies to determine the clinical significance of these findings,” the authors wrote. The accompanying editorial points out that further testing could be especially important for babies, “whose skin may absorb substances at differential rates.”

The editorial also calls for sunscreen manufacturers to commit to more safety tests, claiming that industry leaders have been hesitant to do so in the past. “Despite multiple efforts by the FDA to persuade sunscreen manufacturers to conduct key safety studies, the manufacturers have failed to produce such data, forcing the FDA to conduct its own studies,” the editorial states.

Those FDA studies haven’t been super promising, either: In 2014, an advisory panel concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to state unequivocally that certain sunscreen ingredients are safe.

Dermatologists, however, still say that lathering up before spending time outdoors is a must—despite these new concerns. “Sunscreen is one of the major components of sun protection,” Noelani González, MD, an instructor of dermatology at the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, tells Health. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, daily use of a sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher reduces the risk of developing melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer—by 50%.

Plus, says Dr. González, no clinical studies have actually linked sunscreen use to any of the potential dangers mentioned in this new study. “At this point we don’t necessarily know that [the ingredients analyzed in the new report] are worrisome,” she says. “It’s a very good starting point for us as physicians to investigate, but it’s early on.”

So what does this mean for you when you’re packing your beach bag? You should definitely still throw in the sunscreen. If you’re concerned about ingredients like oxybenzone, you might want to consider products with physical or mineral blockers (rather than chemical blockers) like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which aren’t absorbed by the skin and are considered safe by the FDA.

But until we know more, says Dr. González, any sunscreen is still better than none at all. The authors of the editorial agree, saying that avoidance of sunscreen as a result of this study “could have significant health implications.” They also point out that wearing sunscreen should be just one part of a larger sun-protection plan—one that also includes wearing protective clothing, hats, and sunglasses when spending time outside, and seeking shade when the sun is strongest.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Botanical drug shown to help patients with head and neck cancers in clinical trial

A botanical drug has been shown to help patients with head and neck cancers in a clinical trial. 

In a UCLA-led phase I clinical trial, a new plant-based drug called APG-157 showed signs of helping patients fight oral and oropharyngeal cancers. These cancers are located in the head and the neck. 

Cancers of the head and neck account for 4% of all cancers. About 650,000 new cases are reported each year around the world. People with advanced head and neck cancers have a low survival rate and current treatment options such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can have adverse effects. Therefore, more effective and less toxic therapies are needed to help improve the quality of life and outcome for those with these cancers.

APG-157 is a botanical drug developed under the FDA's Botanical Drug Guidance, which includes requirements for the production of plant-based therapies that are marketed as prescription medications. The drug is made up of botanical compounds including curcumin from the Curcuma longa plant, which is commonly referred to as turmeric and is a member of the ginger family. 

Curcumin is one of the medicinally active or therapeutic molecules that has been tested as a possible treatment to help fight multiple cancers because it is an antioxidant that reduces swelling and inflammation. However, there is poor absorption into the bloodstream when curcumin is taken orally. In this study, UCLA researchers found that when APG-157 is taken through oral mucosal absorption, patients have high levels of curcumin circulating in their blood and absorbed by cancer tissues.

APG-157 is made up of multiple compounds produced by plants, including curcumin. UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers found that treatment with this botanical drug resulted in high concentrations of curcumin and its byproducts circulating in the blood and absorbed by tumor tissues within three hours after being taken orally. 

APG-157 reduced the concentration of cytokines -- proteins involved in inflammation -- in the saliva when administered to cancer patients. The therapy also reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroides species, a group of gram-negative bacteria. Gram negative refers to a group of dangerous bacteria that have an outer layer which hides them from the immune system. The relative abundance of gram-negative bacteria compared to the presence of other types of bacteria is correlated with oral cancer.

APG-157 also resulted in the expression of genes that are associated with attracting immune system T cells to the tumor area. This therapy could have a beneficial effect when used in combination with immunotherapy drugs that help immune system T cells recognize and kill tumors. 

The treatment did not have any adverse effects on the study's participants. 

UCLA researchers conducted the study of APG-157 comparing 12 people who had oral and oropharyngeal cancer with a control group of 13 people who did not have cancer. The reason both the people with cancer and without cancer were part of the study was to show that the drug was not toxic to either people with cancer or those without cancer.

 The medication was given each hour for three hours and was delivered as a lozenge that slowly dissolved in the mouth. Blood and saliva samples were collected beforehand -- each of the three hours the medication was administered -- and 24 hours after the last dosage. 

The medication was given to 12 people (some who had cancer and some who did not) and a placebo was given to 13 people. Blood and electrocardiogram tests did not show increased toxicity in the people who took the active medication in comparison with the people who took the placebo, regardless of whether they had cancer or not. 

For the cancer patients who took the medication, there was a decrease in Bacteroides and an increase in T cells in the tumor tissue as compared to cancer patients who took the placebo. Neither the subjects nor the investigators knew whether the drug or a placebo was given when reviewing the blood and saliva test results of the blinded study. 

APG-157 is a botanical drug that has low toxicity. It works effectively to reduce inflammation that contributes to the growth of cancer cells. It also attracts T cells to the tumor micro-environment. 

When used in combination with immunotherapy drugs, APG-157 might have the ability to make the immune system more effective in attacking head and neck cancers. With potential to inhibit the growth of Bacteroides species, APG-157 could also improve cancer therapy through oral microbial changes.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
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