The promise of easing a host of medical conditions including chronic pain, anxiety, and insomnia among others presented by CBD makes it a very popular medical option for many people in North America. Many studies have concluded that CBD is a safe and effective medical option and many people are trying it. Using this substance presents very few minor side effects. As such, you don’t have to worry about what will happen to you when you take CBD because chances are that nothing will happen to you. However, regardless of all the promises that people expect from CBD, there is a catch in that CBD has the potential of interacting with other medications in the body. What we mean here is that CBD has the ability to affect how your body metabolizes other medications that you take at the same time with CBD.
This concern makes it very necessary to talk to your doctor first before you choose to use CBD. You will have to disclose to your doctor about any supplements, prescription medications, OTC medications, and vitamins that you may be taking currently before you can take CBD.
Drug metabolism and CYP450 enzymes
What happens when you take substances such as medications is that your body works to metabolize them. The process of metabolism happens in all parts of the body such as the liver, gut, legs, and head among other. There are special enzymes that are entrusted with the job of converting foreign substances into forms that make it easy to eliminate them from the body. These enzymes exist as a family of enzymes and they are called cytochrome P450, abbreviated as CYP450. The catch is that there are some medications that can either speed or slow down the rate at which CYP450 enzymes work, leading to an impairment of how supplements and medications are processed in the body. This leads to what we refer to as drug interaction.
Why CYP450 matters when it comes to CBD and medications
There is a lot of research findings that show that the metabolism of CBD and other cannabinoids is done by CYP450 enzymes. To be more specific, the breakdown of CBD is done by a special enzyme within the CYP450 family of enzymes called CYP3A4. Whereas is the enzyme that helps in the metabolism of CBD, CBD interferes with how the enzyme works at the same time.
CYP3A4 is the enzyme that is responsible for the metabolism of over sixty percent of all medications that are prescribed clinically and if CBD interferes with its functioning, it can be a huge problem.
What happens when CBD interferes with CYP3A4 enzyme
If CBD happens to slow down metabolism, of other medications or if other medications slow down the metabolism of CBD in the body, the latter can cause a buildup of CBD in the body. What this can do is that it can lead to exaggerated effects in the body of even very harmful effects. If you want to learn more about it,CBD oil Toronto is your perfect destination to do that.
