Recent Research Suggests Hemp Oil May Improve Cholesterol Levels

Fresh research is out that suggests oil extract derived from hemp may bolster your levels of the so-called “good cholesterol.” 

The study comes courtesy from researchers at The Center for Applied Health Sciences in Ohio and Lindenwood University in Missouri who sought to determine “the effects of a commercially available, GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) by independent conclusion, CBD-containing hemp oil extract on stress resilience, perceived recovery, mood, affect, body composition, and clinical safety markers in healthy human subjects.”

They did so by conducting a double-blind study involving “65 overweight, but otherwise healthy men and women” who ingested Hemp Oil Extract or a placebo every day for “six weeks while continuing to follow their normal diet and physical activity patterns.” 

The Results of The Study

The results showed that, among those in the hemp group, “HDL cholesterol significantly improved.” HDL cholesterol, which stands for “High-density lipoprotein,” is recognized in the medical community as the “good cholesterol” because “it helps remove other forms of cholesterol from your bloodstream” and is “associated with a lower risk of heart disease,” according to the Mayo Clinic. 

The researchers said that no other significant interactions were observed in either group. 

“Hemp supplementation improved HDL cholesterol, tended to support psychometric measures of perceived sleep, stress response, and perceived life pleasure and was well tolerated with no clinically relevant safety concerns,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion. 

“Overall, these findings suggest that supplementation with this hemp extract at the provided dosage in the men and women studied exhibited improvements in HDL cholesterol, tended to support psychometric measures of perceived sleep quantity and stress response, perceived life pleasure, and is well tolerated in healthy human subjects,” they added, as quoted by NORML. 

Despite its rise in commercial viability in recent years, CBD has still been subject to relatively little research. Next month, the clinical research company ValidCare will seek to fill in some of those research gaps by conducting a study on the safety of CBD, particularly its effect on the liver. The research is widely seen as a potential roadmap for Food and Drug Administration to eventually implement its own regulations.