Findings from a randomized controlled trial indicate long-term cannabidiol dosing on patients with high blood pressure may provide some benefit.
Hypertension is a common condition where blood forcefully pushes against artery walls and can lead to heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure if untreated. While it can be often effectively managed with lifestyle changes, medications such as ACE inhibitors or diuretics are also used.
Another potential tool could be the non-intoxicating cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD).
Researchers from the University of Split School of Medicine and University Hospital Centre Split in Croatia carried out a trial named HYPER-H21-4 to investigate the impact of chronic CBD supplementation on 24h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive patients; with a secondary goal of explaining the mechanisms by which CBD affects the cardiovascular system.
A total of 70 patients with primary hypertension were included in the triple-blind randomized crossover trial. Patients with significant comorbidities, who smoked, were pregnant or had a particularly high BMI were excluded.
During the trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive either oral CBD or placebo-matched capsules for the period of 5 weeks, and were then crossed over to the alternative therapy.
The result: 24h systolic and diastolic BP dropped ~4 mmHg and ~3 mmHg, respectively, but no such change was observed following the 5-week course of placebo. Significant adverse events were not noted during the whole course of the study.
The researchers concluded:
“The results of the HYPER-H21-4 trial indicate that chronic CBD supplementation leads to BP reduction. Sub-studies of the trial seem to intricate changes in sympathetic nervous system, endothelia and inflammation as mediators of the observed reduction. Yet, considering the multitude of CBD molecular targets, the relative contribution of these mechanisms remains elusive.”
The study has been published in the European Heart Journal.
This hasn’t been the first study indicating CBD may be useful in managing hypertension; although there have been some conflicting findings. For example, this 2020 study says CBD reduces blood pressure at rest after a single dose. While the effect was lost after seven days of treatment, blood pressure reduction during stress persisted.
“The reduction in arterial stiffness and improvements in endothelial function after repeated CBD dosing are findings that warrant further investigation in populations with vascular diseases,” it states.
