Covid-19 and CBGA: A Potential Treatment and How To Make A CBGA Tincture
A recent study by Oregon State University showed that acidic forms (CBDA and CBGA) of Cannabidiol and Cannabigerol have the potential to treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. This has caused many to take a closer look at the hemp industry, which has been producing CBDA and CBGA-rich products for many years.
This study has been published in numerous journals and is great news for cannabis users and the like.
The Journal of Natural Products published this study, along with a preprinted study from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Both of these articles suggest that there are many potential areas where cannabinoid chemicals may be useful in treating SARS/CoV-2 infections.
For cannabis users around the globe, this is excellent and very exciting news. If you’ve been ingesting cannabinoids throughout the pandemic, these studies may show that you have actually been protecting yourself from infection.
In this article, we will cover a brief overview of what the studies suggest, how CBGA and CBDA have the potential to treat covid-19, and lastly, how to make your own medicinal tincture to extract CBGA and CBDA.
Covid-19 and CBGA: What Are Acidic Cannabinoids? Where Can One Find CBGA and CBDA?
At Chronic Guru, we are here to help. From the very beginning, our mission has been to provide quality and medicinal hemp flower and hemp products.
Guess what hemp flower contains? Acidic cannabinoids!
Decarboxylation is what converts acidic cannabinoids like THCA, CBDA, and CBGA, into THC, CBD, and CBG.
The majority of the cannabinoids present in raw and unsmoked flower are still in their acidic and raw form.
Applying heat to cannabis flower is what “activates” the cannabinoids to convert into their most commonly known form.
So you’re probably thinking, in order to get the acidic cannabinoids, I should just eat the raw flower right?
You can, but it is definitely not the most efficient way to ingest acidic cannabinoids and it’s not very fun.
Instead, why not make a raw cannabinoid-based tincture. The tincture does not require heat, so most of the cannabinoids will remain in their acidic forms.
Covid-19 and CBA: How To Make A Raw CBGA + CBDA Cannabinoid Tincture
Before we get started, here are a few important tips to keep in mind:
- For best results, use small buds or shake. NOTE: if you don’t use shake it is not necessary to grind the flower!
- Get creative with it! If you mix CBD flower with CBGA flower you can make a 1:1 CBD: CBGA tincture. Or if you have access to CBDV flower throw that in too!
Ingredients:
- High-proof grain alcohol
- Hemp flower or shake
- NOTE: The only alcohol you can use that is safe for human consumption is ETHYL ALCOHOL. DO NOT USE ISOPROPYL OR METHYL ALCOHOL.
- Your best bet for making a potent tincture is using a 151-190 proof alcohol. If you are in a pinch, vodka will work. However, higher proofs will ensure a more efficient extraction.
Materials Needed
- Empty tincture bottle(s)
- Mason Jar
- Coffee filter
Directions
Step 1
Place hemp flower into your mason jar.
How Much Flower Should I Use?
It’s up to YOU!
Most people fill the jar approximately halfway. But if you desire a stronger final result, fill it up almost to the top, leaving around 2 inches of space. Place the jar with the hemp flower in the freezer as well as the alcohol to let chill overnight.
Why is it important to freeze the alcohol and the flower?
This is important because the trichomes (also called crystals) located on the flower are where the majority of the cannabinoids and terpenes are formed and contained. When they are frozen, they become brittle and are easier to separate from the plant matter. It’s also best to freeze the alcohol as well so that the whole process is taking place in a cold environment.
Step 2
After the flower and the alcohol have chilled overnight in the freezer, it is time to make your tincture!
Carefully pour the alcohol over the hemp flower. NOTE: Be sure that the hemp flower is completely submerged in the alcohol. This ensures that you are left with the most potent tincture possible. Then, make sure you screw the lid on tight!
Step 3
Give the jar with alcohol and hemp flower a good shake. This helps to kickstart the extraction process and separate the cannabinoids and terpenes from the flower so they get concentrated in the alcohol.
Step 4
How strong you want your tincture to be is entirely up to you. You can leave it in the freezer for a few hours or as long as a few days. The longer you let it sit, the more potent your tincture will be!
- If you choose to only leave it for a few hours, be sure to give the jar a gentle shake every 30-60 minutes and put it back in the freezer.
- Looking for a more potent extraction? Leave it for a few days up to a few weeks and give it a shake 3-4 times a day.
Step 5
Take your tincture out of the freezer and strain it using a coffee filter or mesh strainer.
Step 6
Store it in a dark bottle, if you have an old empty tincture bottle from Chronic Guru lying around, that will work just fine.
Optional Step: How To Evaporate The Alcohol From Your Tincture
Evaporating the tincture is entirely up to you and your personal preference.
Before you bottle your tincture up, pour the strained tincture into a mason jar, cover it with a coffee filter (to prevent contaminants from landing inside), and then leave it in a cold, dark area for up to 4 days. Be aware that grain alcohol is highly flammable so keep it away from flames.
Covid-19 and CBGA: How can I calculate the potency of my tincture?
If you ordered your hemp flower from us, you will have access to the test results which will provide you with the total amount of cannabinoids present in the flower you bought from us. If you can’t find them, no worries! Give us a call or shoot us an email and we will be happy to provide that for you.
Let’s say your flower has 10% CBDa. Each gram will yield approximately 100mg at 10% CBDa. You should use 10 grams of CBDa to make your tincture. It should contain approximately 1000mg.
Let’s say your flower has 10% CBDa. Each gram will yield approximately 100mg at 10% CBDa. Let’s say you used 10 grams of CBDa to make your tincture. It should contain approximately 1000mg of CBDA.
What if I used half the CBD flower and half the CBG flower (50/50)?
Let’s assume your flowers contain 10% CBDA, and 10% CBGA. If you used around 5 grams of each, your tincture should have approximately 500mg CBDA and 500mg CBGA.
There you have it! Your very own potent extraction with acidic cannabinoids. (These kinds of products are not too popular on the market yet, so consider yourself a pioneer!)
So, Now That You Have A Tincture – What is CBDA? Also, What’s The Difference Between CBDA vs. CBD
In the cannabis plant, there are close to 200 known cannabinoids. CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) is the most prevalent, alongside CBG. Cannabigerolic acid (CBG) is known as the mother of all cannabinoids, because it converts or degrades into all other cannabinoids.
Furthermore, CBDA stems from CBGA and later converts to CBDA and then to CBD when exposed to heat.
When it comes to hemp, CBDA is the most abundant cannabinoid, as it creates CBD which is the most abundant in hemp plants.
As we stated earlier, acidic cannabinoids are most abundant in raw cannabis. The best way to ingest CBDA is through taking a CBDA tincture, as consuming the raw flower is not efficient (or enjoyable).
Covid-19 and CBGA: How Does It Work? What Is The ECS?
To understand how acidic cannabinoids and cannabinoids in general work in the body and how they deliver therapeutic benefits, it is important to understand the ECS.
The ECS is short for the endocannabinoid system. This is the system that our bodies use to interact with cannabinoids. Our bodies produce our own endogenous cannabinoids like anandamide.
Endocannabinoids are neurotransmitters. The cannabinoids found in cannabis (known as phytocannabinoids) plants are similar enough to endocannabinoids that the ECS processes them in similar ways.
The ECS is vital to the health of the human body. Endocannabinoids are found in the bloodstream and participate in all bodily processes. They attach to cells and communicate with them about what’s happening and what the cells should do. That’s pretty cool if you ask me!
CBDA and CBGA: What Are They Good For?
The majority of cannabinoids interact directly with the CB1 or CB2 receptors in the body. CBDa on the other side interacts with the endocannabinoid system by blocking the COX-2 enzyme, which is associated with inflammation.
CBDa has been shown to have 100x the affinity for the body’s 5-HT receptors (especially the 5-HT1A serotonin receptors) as CBD.
What does this mean?
When chemicals and receptors have an affinity for one another, they are more likely to work together. This is a remarkable thing because 5ht receptors are involved in neurotransmission. They act as an intermediary between the brain and the body.
As a result, this allows your subconscious and conscious processes to function more smoothly and efficiently.
GW Pharmaceuticals, which produces Epidiolex, has found CBDa to be more bioavailable and quicker than CBD in its own studies.
In addition, it was also discovered that CBGA and CBDA are exceptionally adept at binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, thus preventing the virus from infection human bodies.
Is CBDA Psychoactive?
This cannabinoid is entirely non-psychoactive and will not produce a high.
So the short answer is no!
Covid-19 and CBGA: A Potential Treatment?
Recent studies have found surprising results when they examined the structure of CBDA (a precursor to CBD) and CBGA (a precursor to cannabigerol), which both contained physical properties that enabled them to bind the SARS-2 spike protein.
CBGA and CBDA were both introduced to a system that contained healthy cells as well as the Covid-19 virus. The cannabinoids fought with the epithelial cell to bind with spike protein, effectively preventing SARS-2 infections.
However, very high dosages were required to make them effective. CBGA and CBDA are not ideal compounds to treat SARS. However, this suggests that there might be variants of these compounds that have a tighter affinity for the spike protein. They would require a smaller amount, which could be worth exploring.
The second study offers a different mechanism of CBD’s potential action against SARS/CoV-2 via a response called “apoptosis”. apoptosis is a natural reaction to infections. It occurs when an infected tissue self-destructs to stop the virus from replicating and spreading to more healthy cells.
This happens without triggering an inflammatory reaction. It is a relatively innocuous process that produces minimal side effects.
Furthermore, this process is a fundamental aspect of the body’s natural immunity and could be associated with CBD.
Fernandes et al. found that infected cells exhibited a higher rate of apoptosis when exposed to CBD than their counterparts.
Therefore, this suggests that CBD makes our cells’ immune systems more efficient at protecting against SARS-CoV-2, which could result in a milder or even completely absent illness. In this study, significant results were achieved with a lower CBD concentration.
Covid-19 and CBGA: A Potential Treatment? These Studies Are In Their Infancy
While these studies are promising, they do not suggest that CBDA or CBGA are a cure-all for the Covid-19 virus.
These studies are fairly new and there have been no clinical trials conducted suggesting that these compounds are 100% effective in curing Covid-19 in humans
Although these studies don’t suggest that CBD can be used to treat Covid-19 immediately, they do provide a window into a fascinating new area of research on anti-SARS-CoV-2 medications. It could include drugs that are more sensitive to the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins or research on various cannabinoids which may improve the body’s ability to fight the virus.
Covid-19 and CBGA: Closing Thoughts
While these studies are not an invitation to use cannabinoids to fight against Covid-19 entirely, it is something to consider.
Regardless, making a tincture with CBGA or CBDA still offers potent healing effects when it comes to inflammation, stress, and overall wellbeing.
Lastly, it is fairly easy to do, and it can potentially be an added benefit in preventing and fighting against Covid-19 in addition to its other benefits.
This is not medical advice, we are here to provide healing remedies and foster a conversation around cannabis. Always consult your doctor prior to trying any new medications for whatever purpose.