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source las vegas nevada nv medical cannabis marijuana weed pot cannabinoid cannabigerol CBG cannabigerolic acid CBD

What Is CBGA And How Does It Relate To Cannabis?

Byking_adm on April 12, 2021

Cannabis plants produce a variety of different cannabinoids, and the cannabinoids interact with the endocannabinoid system in the human body to produce the effects. CBGA (cannabigerolic acid) is one of the more minor cannabinoids found in cannabis.

CBGA can be found in the trichomes on cannabis plants and it serves to protect the plant from withering away by performing a pruning process naturally.

CBGA is a very important compound in cannabis. It sits right up there with the other important cannabinoids such as:

• THCA – tetrahydrocannabinol acid
• CBDA – cannabidiolic acid
• CBCA – cannabichromenic acid

These cannabinoids convert into THC, CBD, or CBC. As you might already know, THC is the compound that produces psychoactive effects. What you might not know, is that THCA has to go through a process called decarboxylation to turn into THC. There is a chance that CBGA can turn into CBG, but in most strains, it will turn into THC or CBD.

How Was CBGA Discovered?

CBG was made aware of by scientists about half a century ago. The first scientists to discover CBG were Israeli ones. Around thirty years later, Japanese scientists figured out that CBGA was the precursor to CBG. There hasn’t been a whole lot of research done on CBGA throughout the years, and the majority of the focus has been on how to keep THCA production sustainable.

Scientists continue to focus on how CBGA can be converted into THCA. Progress has been made and scientists have figured out how to make replicas of the cannabinoid. One research group had conducted computational modeling in order to keep production high. A research team located in California made a publication about their findings on the complete synthesis of cannabinoids, and that also included CBGA.

What Are The Benefits Of The CBGA Cannabinoid?

There hasn’t been a whole lot of actual medical research surrounding CBGA, but there have been a few studies in the past that prove its potential.

Heart Disease

CBGA might be effective in people that are dealing with the effects of diabetes. Some of these effects are heart disease and comorbidities. There was an in vitro study of CBGA done and it found that it inhibited the enzyme known as aldose reductase. This enzyme is known to lead to cardiovascular complications and oxidative stress. Everything in this study was very dependent on the dosage of CBGA being used. There are many unpleasant side effects with synthetic inhibitor medications, and that’s why a drug developed with CBGA could prove useful.

Disorders Of The Metabolism

There has been some research on how CBGA can aid in people that have different types of metabolic issues. One such study was conducted in 2019 using computer simulation technology. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors are what helps to control the metabolism. If these receptors aren’t working properly, certain diseases such as diabetes or high cholesterol levels can begin to develop. The conclusion of this study was that CBGA was able to activate these receptors in the body. As a result of that, lipid metabolism was stimulated and helped to lower lipid accumulation. While the study still needs to be conducted with animals or humans, it still shows some promising results.

Colon Cancer

CBGA has also been considered in the use of colon cancer. With a particular study, scientists did research on the cytotoxic effects of CBGA that was extracted from weed. They discovered that CBGA was efficiently able to kill colon cancer cells. It also sped up the death of cancer cells and somewhat halted the cancer cell cycle. Like the other studies, there has to be more research and analysis done on the effects of CBGA on other cells throughout the body.