Consumers research CBD more than many other wellness trends, study finds

Move over, meditation: American consumers are researching CBD more than many other alternative health trends and products, according to a new study looking at Google searches.

Health scientists from the University of California, San Diego, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the University of York in the United Kingdom measured U.S. Google searches that mentioned CBD and cannabidiol from 2004 through April of this year.

The study found that while search volumes were consistent from 2004 to 2014, they began to grow significantly in 2016. Search volumes increased year-over-year by 125.9% in 2017 and 160.4% in 2018, and they are expected to be 117.7% higher in 2019.

In April 2019, there were 6.4 million Google searches for CBD, the researchers wrote in an American Medical Association journal detailing their findings.

The April 2019 searches for CBD were on par with yoga and e-cigarettes but seven times more prevalent than acupuncture, five times higher than apple cider vinegar and three times more than meditation.

CBD searches also outnumbered searches for:

• Vaccination
• Exercise
• Marijuana
• Veganism

Researchers broke down the results by state. Searches for CBD this year were highest in Vermont, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Colorado, New Hampshire and Oregon.

Get more details about the scientists’ research here.