Have you seen the recent news articles about a study that found CBD could cause liver damage? 

We sure have.

If you’re worried about continuing to use CBD after seeing the headlines, we get it. 

However, there are things we think everyone should know about the study under discussion before labeling CBD as dangerous.

In this post, we’re going to break down the method & results of the study that’s making waves in the CBD industry to explain why there might not be as much cause for concern as the headlines make it seem.

Breaking Down the Study:

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences conducted a study wherein mice were given varying doses of CBD and observed for liver damage. The results of their study, which were published in the journal Molecules earlier this year, were that mice in the two groups given the highest dose of CBD did in fact develop liver damage.

Now, based on that information alone, you might assume that ‘large’ doses of CBD are potentially hazardous. 

But hold on! 

First, what defines a ‘large’ dose? How much CBD do you have to take before it becomes dangerous? As it turns out, the dosages used in this study are meant for a very specific type of CBD- Epidiolex.

What is Epidiolex?

Epidiolex is a prescription medication, in fact it’s the only FDA approved drug made with CBD. Unlike the CBD you’ll find at storefronts across the country, Epidiolex can only be purchased with a prescription from a doctor. Currently, Epidiolex is only approved for use in cases of severe, intractable epilepsy. 

Even though Epidiolex is made with CBD, the recommended dosage for someone prescribed Epidiolex is completely different than the recommended dosage for someone using store bought CBD.

• Epidiolex is meant to treat severe seizures. In order for it to be effective, patients have to take a significantly higher dose than most other people using CBD. 
• The CBD oil you might purchase from us or any other CBD company is not meant to be used as medication, and therefore the recommended doses are much, much lower than they are for Epidiolex.

How Much Is Too Much?

The only mice to experience liver damage were the ones given the HIGHEST recommended doses of CBD- For Epidiolex, the recommended dose is no more than 20mg/kg a day. 

For an adult weighing 130lbs, this would be roughly 1200mg of CBD a day, or 1.2 grams of CBD a day. That is an enormous amount of CBD. 

For comparison, our bottles of CBD recommend taking 0.5ml of CBD oil at a time, one to two times a day. That roughly equates to 23mg of CBD at a time- or up to 46mg of CBD a day. 1200mg v. 46mg of CBD a day is a huge difference. Of course, some people using store bought CBD will need a higher dose than that, but it would be nowhere near 1200mg a day. In order to get that dose, you’d have to drink half a bottle of our 2500mg CBD oil! 

To be clear- unless you are prescribed that dose by a doctor, no one should take 1200mg of CBD a day. It is an extremely high dose meant only for those with life threatening seizures. 

So, yeah- at extremely high doses, CBD can cause liver damage, but that’s not unique to CBD. In fact, most medications have a maximum dosage for exactly this reason. 

Not Even News

The fact that the highest recommended dose of Epidiolex could cause liver damage isn’t even news! It’s on the Epidiolex website! People prescribed Epidiolex at that dosage are warned about the possibility of liver damage and are required to have their liver health monitored frequently. 

That’s not because CBD is inherently dangerous, it’s because the liver can only process so much CBD at once. 

So, Is CBD Really Dangerous? Can CBD cause liver damage? 

Yes, it is possible. If you take the highest recommended dose of the strongest CBD on the market, you could absolutely cause liver damage- but that amount of CBD is only necessary when dealing with serious, life-threatening cases of epilepsy. In general, the amount of CBD we recommend using and most other CBD companies recommend using is perfectly safe.

Remember- no signs of liver damage were found in the mice taking lower doses of CBD, so based on this study there’s no reason to believe that lower doses of CBD are harmful. 

If you have any remaining concerns on this topic or any other, feel free to sound off in the comments below- we’re here to help. 

The clickbait-y headlines on CBD probably aren’t going to go away any time soon, so for any questions that may arise, know you can always come to us.