Transcript of Episode 84: Elixinol CBD Hemp Oil
With Dr. Daniel Pompa and special guest Philip Blair, MD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr9R5miY3Zg”
Meredith:
Hard to believe it, but we are on episode 84 already, and we have a really awesome topic for you guys today. We have a very special guest. We have Dr. Pompa here, of course, and we are welcoming Dr. Philip Blair to the show. How are you doing, Dr. Blair?
Dr. Blair:
Excellent. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Meredith:
Thank you so much for being here. We have such an amazing topic for you all today. We will be discussing CBD oil. If you don’t know what that is, you’re going to find out a lot about it in this show. Stay tuned because it’s a really, really hot topic. Dr. Blair is here, and he’s going to be explaining the benefits, just a lot of the intricacies of this really exciting compound that we’re learning about, and some of the products that it’s being used in that can benefit your health.
Dr. Blair is here from Elixinol, which is the company that produces CBD oil products. He has a history as a family physician, as an MD, and as a retired army doctor. He was in the army. He joined it in 1968, he said, and graduated from West Point, so pretty conservative background. Now he is in the business of helping people get their hands on CBD oil, which he’s going to tell us about.
Dr. Pompa:
You make it sound illegal. You make it sound illegal, and that’s really one of the questions people have, Meredith.
Meredith:
Maybe I didn’t say that in the right way, but it is legal, this product. We’re really excited to talk to you about it. Maybe I’ll just stop and let you -inaudible- Dr. Blair and explain to us about CBD oil, and kind of your background, and how you got into it, and then -inaudible- what it is.
Dr. Pompa:
Dr. Blair, I have to admit, you have to kind of recover after that. It sounds like you’re smuggling something in from Mexico. I’m just saying – that was a great introduction. I loved it. It couldn’t have been any better. Cannabidiol oil, how the heck did you get into this from being a conservative medical doctor, West Point grad? Come on, doc. How did it happen? I don’t know if you know.
Dr Blair:
Primarily, like you, Dr. Pompa, I’m a scientist, and I’m looking for solutions as to help people with their serious medical problems. We’re facing such an epidemic of devast consequences in all different areas. None of the standard, traditional medicine has really been effective for that. I used to think that the practice of medicine was absolutely stalwart, that there was hundreds of studies to prove the point that these things were effective. As I’ve practiced over the last 30 years, I’ve realized that’s not the case. Many of these problems are under-treated and poorly served by the standard medical therapy.
When I discovered cannabidiol, and I realized, and I saw the impact, and reviewed the literature, along with the fact that it was cannabidiol from hemp is not illegal – in fact, it’s quite legal. It can be shipped anywhere – that the benefits were extraordinary in all of the studies that had been done. Unfortunately, most of them had been done on animals and cell cultures, but there were no toxic effects. They could not find a toxic dose, nor were there any significant side effects from this, and yet the benefits were legion in terms of their scope and what they could do in all different areas.
I think the best concept is that CBD, cannabidiol, activates and normalizes the body function at a organ level and at a cellular level. You get all of these particular benefits and restoration of function that may have been lost as a result of our diet, or environment, and our poor habits that have occurred in the past. As a scientist, discovering that this incredible substance was available and could be distributed at minimal charge was extraordinary, and the benefits. As soon as I started using it for different patients and the clients that I was working with, I was amazed at the overwhelming positive response that I got from so many people.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. We almost might even have to back up for some folks. There’s been so much buzz about legalizing marijuana, and cannabidiol, CBD oil, is part of that, right? Let’s back up and say, “What is cannabidiol? What is cannabis oil, CBD oil, whatever we’re going to call it. How does it differ from what’s out there?” Everyone’s trying to legalize marijuana. How does this differ from that? Go ahead and educate them on that, doc.
Dr. Blair:
Meredith, one of the things that you pointed out was the confusion between legalities and things. What is it with relationship to the law? First thing I want to mention here is that cannabidiol comes from a plant. It’s what they call a phytocannabinoid. We’re talking about a class of medications or class of substances here called cannabinoids. These substances are actually located or found in a number of different plants including flax seed oil, as well as hemp seed oil, as well as marijuana.
You’ve heard a lot of the news articles, and the miraculous stories, and healing that has gone on with medical marijuana. The focus on the medical marijuana is actually on the CBD portion of it. They want to lower the THC. I need to step back, though. I need to take you back to the beginning.
I was talking about the phytocannabinoids. They’re available in plants, and they’ve been that way a long time. They are not unique compounds to the body because the body has its own cannabinoid system already there, that it was actually only recently discovered in 1992. In medical years, that’s a very short time. At that time, they realized that these cannabinoid – this cannabinoid system called the endocannabinoid system is one that normalizes and it seems to be the master controller for so many different parts of the body, not only in terms of neurologic activity and immunologic activity, but also in terms of metabolic function and overall cellular function.
Frankly, we’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of the benefits and the possibilities with regard to cannabidiol. What cannabidiol does is it activates that endocannabinoid system in a very positive way. It has no psychoactive effects. It has no significant adverse effects, and it doesn’t interact with any of the other medications that are out there, so it’s safe to use in all ages including children with seizure disorders and adults. There has been quite a bit of discussion with regard to pregnancy, about its involvement in pregnancy, although that is really as yet totally undefined.
Dr. Pompa:
I find it interesting because all the hype about legalizing marijuana, it’s really differentiating the CBD from the THC, which gives the high. THC is the psychological effect that occurs. Doc, it’s amazing to me that they haven’t just said, “Look, let’s legalize this CBD with zero THC,” like the product that we use. It’s 18% cannabidiol, 18% CBD oil with zero THC. Why not differentiate this?
Dr. Blair:
It should be differentiated. It should be quickly differentiated, but we’re using some terms here that make it confusing. Number one is the term cannabis. What does cannabis mean? That’s the genus for marijuana and hemp. Now, it’s like looking at a dog. They may be the same genus, but it’s not the same dog. It’s not identical. They do different things, but people can’t seem to get that. Unfortunately, the law, as specific as it tends to be most of the time, doesn’t really address this except when you get into the details, and then it focuses on the psychoactive substances like THC and some of the synthetic THC-like chemicals that cause a psychoactive effect and cause that high.
CBD does not do any of that stuff. It doesn’t have any of those psychoactive effects, and it is totally benign. Yet, it’s bundled with the term cannabis, and therein lies the major confusion. I think the other factor that’s really important is money in the sense that the state governments who are into this game are recognizing a huge amount of revenue as a result of controlling, and managing, and being involved with cannabis in total. That means that when they find a very high quality product that is truly beneficial, they have the opportunity to tax it to the point where they can restore their -inaudible-. I think that is the big factor, plus the confusion about THC, and CBD, and the other cannabinoids, and how they work.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. I think that distinction really does need to be made. Is this true? People talk about marijuana. The original marijuana plant had very little THC and more CBD. Of course, today now, it’s been bred to obviously have more THC and less CBD, which then – whereas the health benefits get less and less as they breed the higher THC. Is that true?
Dr. Blair:
You know, you’re exactly right. The breeding of the plants has created some incredibly strong psychoactive marijuana at this point to the point where we’re seeing major complication in terms of activation of psychosis and psychiatric disorders from using this.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Dr. Blair:
I’ll let you on to the area I’m in in Washington State, however, there seems to be a shift among growers to go back to the CBD area. I think you’re going to be seeing a lot more emphasis on CBD in the grow areas because of the marked improvements and health benefits that go along with CBD with the low THC.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Meredith, I know you have some questions, too. Obviously, we want to talk about these benefits. We’ve been talking about how great this is. Obviously there’s a component here. This fight to legalize marijuana, it should be the fight about CBD, how to get it out to the planet. It’s already legal, and this is the benefiting effect here. That’s what we need to talk more about. Meredith, I know you had some questions, too. You get a lot of the calls, I’m sure, Meredith, right? You get a lot of people asking the questions that – that we carry this oil that everyone’s been raving about.
Meredith:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I do. I didn’t realize that today’s marijuana plants were being genetically bred to contain more THC than CBD. That’s a really interesting fact that I learned. I think it’s really exiting, too, that they would start to breed these plants back to have more of CBD than the THC. Very cool, so that was a great thing that I learned. Yeah. I get a lot of calls and questions about this oil and the tinctures that you actually offer, as well.
Before we get into the products, can you just talk a little bit more about some of the specific benefits and some of the specific conditions that CBD could potentially positively impact?
Dr. Blair:
Sure. Probably the most common condition that I hear people talking about is anxiety. They are so anxious, and that goes through a full spectrum that goes all the way to PTSD. For many people, with our hubbub world, it creates an environment of constant anxiety and inability to relax. This CBD has direct effects on the neurotransmitters to calm that response, and put people at ease, and relax them.
The other area that is particularly valuable and I see consistently is neuropathic pain. That is a major problem that we are encountering in our society with people with chronic levels of pain that – and on top of that, there’s been the withdrawal of support for use of narcotics. The opioids are less and less available. You have to see a specialist for them, tightly controlled. Even so, we have an epidemic of overdoses that are occurring with it. What I’ve seen in most cases is the ability of CBD to reduce the doses of narcotics by 80% and prevent any withdrawal symptoms that go along with it. I’ve seen the same thing for some of the other medications that are involved with pain therapy, as well. Those are the two big areas that I see.
Dr. Pompa:
I think you’ll get into others here because – I have just been astounded how much it’s helped my clients and the feedback. We treat a lot – we see a lot of unexplainable illnesses where there’s just no explanation. They have anxiety. They can’t sleep, and obviously pain and a lot of bizarre, neurological deficits because we see many people with neurotoxic illness driven by neurotoxins. So much of the research that I’ve been reading, doc, is really how cannabis is affecting nerve regeneration and linked into Alzheimer’s, which is a massive epidemic that I’m going to be talking about during a lecture in Atlanta on. Talk a little bit about that because that sure is a lot of what we see.
Dr. Blair:
You touched on a very important topic, and that is sleep. So many people are having difficult time with sleep. Amazingly, cannabidiol has a profound effect in improving people’s sleep. People who have not had a full night’s sleep suddenly report to me that, “Oh, by the way, I’m sleeping better than I’ve ever slept before,” which is a great bonus and such a huge advantage. I think it’s something that many people, especially with this day and age of so many different types of sleeping medications that are out there, that this would be an outstanding replacement for that sort of thing.
Then with regard to regeneration, I think that is a very, very important topic. Not only is it in the sense of working on nerve cells and preventing their degradation, as well as restoring their ability to regenerate, but it also applies to other tissues. There is evidence in the literature, says that it’ll impact the pancreatic beta cells. There may be some increases in the beta cell mass as a result of using cannabidiol.
Dr. Pompa:
Wow! I know that it affects the cell membrane, which we talk a lot about. Therefore, it would have a positive affect on Type 2 diabetes, which is the insulin receptor and really, just about any hormone receptor. You could talk a little bit about that research. You’re saying the beta cell, as well, which would impact even people pushing to Type 1 diabetes. Again, we’re only able to quote the literature, not making claims. That’s what the literature is showing. That’s amazing.
Dr. Blair:
The animal studies do show that cannabidiol appears to increase the beta cell mass, but even if we don’t have good, solid evidence for that, we do have important evidence to show that the cannabidiol is protective against the pancreatic beta cell destruction. If you still have beta cell function, as in typically in your Type 2s or early in your Type 1s, you can preserve what’s already there.
Dr. Pompa:
Wow! That’s powerful. That really is. It’s showing that it also must have an effect on autoimmune in some respect, obviously just in the sense that it downregulates inflammation. Is there another connection with autoimmune?
Dr. Blair:
The autoimmune program and system is – CBD has specific receptors in autoimmune cells, so it goes right to those two major areas that are neurologic, as well as the nerve cells, and for the immune cells. Cannabidiol is absolutely extraordinary in its ability to downregulate the inflammatory cytokines, those signaling molecules that tell something to get inflamed at the same time as boosting up those molecules that are involved in anti-inflammation. You get this wonderful balance of increase in the anti-inflammatory with a decrease in the inflammatory component. You’re getting the best of both worlds on inflammatory systems.
As you’ve alluded to, my belief, and I think it’s borne out, is we can find inflammatory component in almost all of our major diseases. The final common pathway with so many problems, whether it’s Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cancer of any type, we’re talking about an inflammatory pathway that is involved.
Dr. Pompa
Yeah. No doubt about it. Let me tell you how I was actually – really got enough positive about CBD that I was like, “Okay. I’ve got to really start researching this.” One of my clients, who’s a young boy from California, and he was down to maybe five foods at best that he could eat. That’s how his gut – how bad his leaky gut was. He had Crohn’s, colitis, major, major gut issues, major autoimmune. We had progressed him to a point, and we just kind of stalled. He got some CBD, and I’m telling you, within days, doc, within days, he was able to eat foods that he was never able to eat and not react.
Within a month, he was literally eating a standard healthy diet, not a standard American diet by any means. He was eating foods without getting inflamed, without reacting. It calmed his nerve system down that much. It took that much inflammation out of his gut. It was just remarkable to where then from that, I was on the CBD research hunt. Thank God I was led – because there’s a lot of bad CBD out there. There’s a lot of products that claim CBD, but do not have the guaranteed 18% that Elixinol does.
You don’t really actually work for Elixinol. You’re their medical expert, but you can talk a little bit about that relationship. Their product is 100% organic. The product is guaranteed 18% CBD, which again, is different than most products that are on the market right now.
Dr. Blair:
Like you, I discovered the cannabidiol and said, “I’ve got to research this. I got to find out more about it.” Then I got into the product, and I wanted to verify that, in fact, it was organically grown, that it was produced in a wholesome and non-modified, and didn’t use any chemicals, solvents that could be toxic in any way, and that it didn’t have any pesticides. Those are premier. If you’re going to be introducing this to the body as a therapeutic agent, you definitely want to make those things.
I reviewed all of that information specifically for Elixinol, and it came up whistle-clear clean in terms of the product. Of course, using it on myself and my family, I’ve seen the restoration without any ill effects using that. Having done the research on it, and sampled the product, and seen this particular product, I absolutely have to verify the quality of what I’ve seen specifically with Elixinol. Yet you see in the literature, there is quite a bit of consternation about some of the other products that are available on the market and reports that have indicated that they may contain some other types of problems, or they don’t contain significant amounts of CBD.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s the active ingredient. People buy hemp oil. The question is, “How much CBD is really in hemp oil?” I would argue that most help oil on the market has very little CBD. There’s no active dose, anyway.
Dr. Blair:
That’s the first thing I do when I talk to a client that says, “Oh, CBD doesn’t work.” “What were you using? And I clarify exactly what that is. For you as a practitioner, it’s really important for you have a high quality substance that you know is going to be guaranteed to provide the benefits. If it’s going to provide the benefits, it’s got to have the substance in it. I understand the importance of the reliability of the Elixinol product.
Dr. Pompa:
Meredith, pretty soon here, we’ll show some of those products, and we’ll kind of let the doctor talk here a little bit about how he uses those. Talk a little bit about, doc, just some things you’ve seen in your practice, some other conditions. We get a lot of people who have unexplainable illnesses watching this show. What are some of the other conditions? What have you seen in your practice?
Dr. Blair:
First off, Dr. Pompa, I want to mirror exactly your experience with inflammatory bowel disease. Just spectacular results and improvements from people who are suffering greatly to the point where I did the research in terms of the biochemistry that’s involved with tumor necrosis factor blockers. These are substances that are like Enbrel that are used as either injections that cost on the order of $4,000 to $5,000 a month. These are injections that people are getting on a weekly basis, and only about 50% really benefit from using these particular products because of the side effects and the toxic effects.
What I’ve seen with the CBD is a complete reversal of all of these inflammatory conditions of the gut. I mentioned the two areas that CBD is focused on that we know about are the nerve cells and the inflammatory cells. Guess what? The gut is loaded with both of those things. It, in fact, it probably the greatest mediator for a lot of our psychology, and our behavior, and our well being come from the gut. Very important topic area, and extraordinary results with all manner of inflammatory bowel disease. I can see CBD could absolutely replace tumor necrosis factor blockers very easily in the whole situation of treating people with severe gut diseases.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Absolutely. I know you’re doing – you see a lot with Alzheimer’s and dementia, which is a very exciting topic. If anything can fix the brain, this is something that’s extremely powerful.
Dr. Blair:
The results that I’ve seen with Alzheimer’s have been nothing short of phenomenal. People who were lost, who had very little communication, who were confused constantly, they started on CBD, and they become aware. They become alert. They restore function that they had lost. Reversals of this are not uncommon.
I used to think that what is lost is lost, and it cannot be restored. What I’ve seen with several of these patients is a significant improvement and restoration to the point where I had one gentleman who was an 82-year-old Korean War veteran tell me that before CBD, he was a vegetable. After using CBD, his life has come alive again, and he’s so grateful for this opportunity.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah.
Meredith:
That’s with no other changes other than taking the CBD oil? No lifestyle changes, diet changes, that’s exclusively just taking the oil, those changes occurred?
Dr. Blair:
That’s correct. There are no other therapies that are involved. If anything, there may be a decrease in the other medications that they would be taking.
Meredith:
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Dr. Pompa:
One of our popular topics is autism. We have a lot of folks that watch the show that have with autism, autism-related disorders. My gosh, you can’t throw a stone and not hit a home being affected by a child on the autism spectrum today. Talk a little bit about your experiences that you’ve seen with autism-related disorders.
Dr. Blair:
That’s great. Autism is another one of those conditions that has a dramatic – can be dramatically affected by CBD. We’ve seen some extraordinary cases as a result. I think that autism is another one of those more or less abandoned conditions that we really don’t have any solutions for. A lot of medications are thrown at these kids that actually make them worse in terms of lethargic, non-communicative, difficult to handle. I guess they’re sedate, but they don’t really function.
What we have done is to use this cannabidiol with patients with autism and autism spectrum with some stunning results. We’ve seen a restoration. Autism is a very complex disorder, but what most people want to have is a recovery from some of the repetitive, obsessive activities that these children tend to do. CBD has been very effective with that, improving communication, and producing a calming effect on the children, as well as improving sleep. Every parent is ever so grateful for improving their sleep quality.
Dr. Pompa:
Look at autism. We know that both brains are affected, this brain and the one down here, the gut. We’re talking about a product that research shows affects both brains. We’re talking about how it affects the brain in Alzheimer’s, and there’s research -inaudible- Parkinson’s, etcetera. Then we also were talking about how it heals inflammatory gut. It is a perfect product when it comes to these brain/gut disorders, which we know autism is one of them.
It really is amazing. You talk about pain. I literally have had clients who – they were on major medications just to deal with the neuropathies or the pain that they were dealing with and were able to get off those just working – they worked with their doctor to get off them because the pain levels went down do much because of the CBD oil. Talk about some of the cellular affects. On this show, we’re all about, “You fix the cell, you get well.” Cannabis oil, for it to have these types of effects so strongly with people’s health and symptoms, obviously it’s doing something at the cellular level, doc.
Dr. Blair:
Absolutely! We still don’t know all of the mechanisms that are involved, but I’ve counted at least 20, and there’re probably another dozen mechanisms of how CBD works. I alluded to the endocannabinoid system and its complex interaction with all of these other systems in the body. At a cellular level, we’re seeing effects on mitochondria, as well as cell production, as well as permeability of the membrane of the cell. You’re getting many of these benefits.
Looking at some of the specific things that we know about – for instance, we know that ketones are very effective, are very healthy to the body. If you look at some of the mechanisms that are involved, the CBD works like ketones in many respects. Another area we talk about is omega-3s. Clearly, omege-3s have significant benefit. How do they work? Turns out that CBD is working on a similar mechanism, and the omega-3 works in the same way. Omega-3s actually produce our precursors for cannabinoids within the system, and CBD activates those cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, as well as working in the same pathways. You get a merging of effects for these healthy benefits that we know are there, as well as the intra-cellular effect.
The intra-cellular, I know, is where you want me to focus, Dr. Pompa, and I have to validate that there are changes in the cytoplasm, of course, the cellular structure and the manufacturing mechanism for proteins, as well as enzymes. Then I alluded to the mitochondria, which is your powerhouse and your energy storage as well as balancing the inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects that come from the mitochondria, but it also occurs at the nucleus. There are communication, and control, and factors that CBD stimulates on that nucleus that help facilitate the proper production of chemicals, and enzymes, and substances that need to be produces in that cell.
For example, one of the big problems that you run into in Alzheimer’s disease is a creation of some abnormal products, abnormal folding of amyloid beta, which tends to occur and cause scarring and inflammation within the brain. CBD blocks that function within the cell at the nuclear level and also at several other levels so you get a normalizing and a reduction of beta amyloid in the Alzheimer’s clients.
Dr. Pompa:
Wow! I’ll tell you what; that’s amazing! You literally just hit R number 2. We’re talking about the cell membrane. R number 3, when you’re talking about the mitochondria, cellular energy, and R number 4, inflammation. Let me tell you something. If it’s having that effect that you said at the nucleus, that means it’s having an effect on the DNA. I guarantee you, some way, it affect methylation, which is R number 5, so it’s absolutely amazing.
When you look at the results that people get with it, to me, it’s not amazing because I know it has to affect the cell in a dramatic way because you don’t get well until you fix the cell. Pretty amazing stuff, doc.
Dr. Blair:
That’s a really good point, that it is affecting the DNA and the translation to those functional enzymes that work within our body. The nucleus of the cell holds the DNA, which is the pattern for delivering the right enzymes to the body. What we see in Alzheimer’s – and not so much in Alzheimer’s, but in autism and certain types of seizure disorders is that there is a transcription error that is occurring from the DNA to the performance and the creation of different proteins and enzymes.
What CBD does is seems to facilitate, so you actually have a restoration of cellular function as well the organ function. With the use of CBD, it normalizes the folding of the proteins or the enzymes, becomes normalized to the point that they can function. That’s why we believe that there is such a profound effect in autism. The same is true, probably, for epilepsy, especially dealing with a number of these congenital diseases that are going on, although there’s many other mechanisms involved.
Dr. Pompa:
It’s interesting. We’re talking about different conditions, but I had met someone here in Park City, which is like a Mecca for different athletes. They’re starting to use CBD to help recover from exercise. These are healthy, elite athletes using CBD to recover. I always say, “In the training world, it’s not what you do in the gym or on the field; it is what you do after.” It’s all about recovery. In hearing all the cellular effects that it’s linked to, it doesn’t surprise me that these athletes are getting amazing results that they are with the recovery from CBD. Yeah. It’s not just about sick people. It’s amazing.
We used to have an amazing relationship with plants. Humans and plants had this incredible relationship. We talked a little bit about it, Meredith, last week when we talked about infertility.
Meredith:
-inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
There are so many plants that play into different hormone, different receptors, hormone receptors that help our body in this perfect balance. I think so much of it is we’re missing some of these really amazing phytochemicals like this one at the cellular level, and it really is amazing when you restore that human/cell relationship with the plant.
Dr. Blair:
I think the topic of athletes and using CBD is extraordinarily valuable. As I told you, the CBD seems to activate a number of the mechanisms for ketones and the same process involved with the cell. As you, no doubt, have experienced, you see that athletes who use a low carbohydrate approach and have established ketosis have phenomenal recoveries to the point where you’re seeing that people, after ultra-marathon runs of 100 miles, are able to get back and run within a day of their exposure to that. I see CBD as working along the same lines as that natural process that’s already there.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. It’s remarkable. I don’t even know if you know this: utilizing keto-adaptation is one of the tools that we use to downregulate cellular inflammation. Every summer, doc, I go into ketosis myself for athletic reasons because I literally can ride miles and miles without even eating food because I have – as thin as I am, I have 80,000 calories stored in fat that my body’s able to dig into when you’re in that ketotoic state.
I utilize ketosis for many different brain conditions as a tool because the brain loves ketones. Ketones downregulate brain inflammation. Ketones do magic at the cell. The fat burns cleaner than glucose, so we utilize that. It even upregulates longevity genes. Ketones turn on those good genes. Hearing you say that cannabis oil does the similar thing that ketones, I’ve never heard that comparison, but man, I tell you what. I’m coming out of my seat right now because I get that – I understand the power of the ketone, right Meredith? We believe strongly in the power of the ketone, and just making that comparison excites me.
Meredith:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Blair:
You mentioned something important there, I thought, just a parallel. You say, “The relationship that we’ve had with plants,” the cannabinoids are also found in truffles and Echinacea. Truffles are something that people have incredible craving for and passion for that is really hard to define. Then Echinacea, it has clear health benefits in terms of reducing inflammatory condition, viral infections. There’s an example of a plant that uses that in its power to benefit humans in several different ways.
Dr. Pompa:
My wife just wrote an article. She interviewed the top chef at an amazing restaurant in Atlanta who is an expert in truffles. She just wrote an article on her blog about truffles and different things, and it’s neat to hear that as one of the health benefits. That’s pretty neat. Meredith, maybe we should show the products, and then, doc, maybe you could give a little feedback on how you use them, whether it’s pain, whether it’s anxiety, how to dose it, what you use. Do you want to show the products, and then you can comment on them?
Meredith:
Let me grab the products while you guys start talking, and then I will have them to show. One second.
Dr. Pompa:
Yup. Yup. Anyways, I’ll say this while she’s gone, we carry them on, obviously, our website. Obviously, we already discussed the fact that it is legal. However, Meredith will probably remind you that we want to call, and Meredith will tell you how to do that, for the products. Meredith, you can’t order them directly off of our website. You actually have to call. Is that correct?
Meredith:
Right. At this time, yes, if you are interested in these products that we’re going to talk about. We have the oil here in a syringe form, and then we have a tincture, as well. You can call us at 888-600-0642, and we can get the products to you.
Dr. Pompa:
By the way, a lot of our doctors’ clients and patients watch the show, so I’m sure that if your doctor’s connected to us, they probably carry it in their clinic, as well. Check there as well.
Dr. Blair:
In terms of dosing, the oil that –
Dr. Pompa:
Hold up -inaudible-.
Meredith:
-inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
Is he there? Did he freeze?
Meredith:
Hello? Did we lose you?
Dr. Blair:
I’m here.
Meredith:
Okay.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay.
Meredith:
All right. Great. All right. It seemed to cut out a little bit. Okay.
Dr. Blair:
I stopped, but I thought I had a signal to stop there.
Dr. Pompa:
I was just telling her to hold up each product, which one you talk about, just so they can understand.
Dr. Blair:
I think the first thing we’ll talk about is the paste or what comes in a syringe. This is a highly concentrated form of CBD. It’s got 1800 milligrams that’s in the syringe of 10 milliliters, so you’re talking about 180 milligrams of CBD within each milliliter. What I found is that for more serious conditions, particularly epilepsy, or autism, or some of these major problems, the more concentrated doses have to be given. This is probably the most effective way of using that. For certain types of conditions, we’ll recommend – I typically recommend about 5 milligrams per kilogram, and do that kind of calculation.
For other minor conditions, you don’t need nearly as much, and we talk about using as little as what we call a grain of rice. Just a little dab onto a finger, or a spoon, or to piece of wax paper and slip that into the mouth, and try to hold it in the mouth for as long as you can to absorb it through the mucus membrane.
Dr. Pompa:
We like to use a little bit – pull that out just to show them what that syringe looks like.
Meredith:
This is actually -inaudible-. This is an empty one. I don’t have the syringe.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay. All right. Inside there, it looks like a little syringe if people are saying, “What do you mean?” I have mine downstairs. Maybe if you start talking, I could run down and get mine. Just to understand, we put that in our mouth or like you said, on our finger, put it in. Then we use a little MCT oil. Kind of move it around your mouth to help the absorption. Talk a little bit about that, doc because the delivery is really important. I’ll run and get my syringe, okay?
Dr. Blair:
Yeah. Getting it absorbed into the body is actually quite interesting, and there’ve been a lot of studies about that. GW Pharmaceutical actually has a number of commercial products, and they’ve done quite a bit of research. Sativex is one that’s being used for multiple sclerosis and a few other products. Their research into the absorption shows that it’s probably best absorbed through the mucus membranes. Classically, we call that sublingual, but in fact, the best absorption occurs all around the mouth. As long as you can hold it in your mouth, you’re getting direct absorption right through the mucus membranes into the body.
I ask people to do that for as long as possible because we’re talking about an absorption – a bio-availability of about 30%. You get about 30% of what you put in your mouth, comes directly into the bloodstream. You’re getting direct benefits into the brain and to the other portions of the body.
Meredith:
Is it helpful to take the product with some fat, as well, like some additional coconut oil, maybe an avocado just to really help it absorb better?
Dr. Blair:
I think the MCT oil is probably ideal because even with those people who have an impairment, we know that MCT oil is absorbed through the gut and doesn’t require any digestion. If people have poorly functioning gall bladders, they will be able to absorb it through the gut lining without any particular processing. MCT oil is particularly valuable, but other oils are important and effective in enhancing the absorption.
Meredith:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Pompa:
Here’s the MCT oil. We carry this. I like the glass bottle. This is from Nutramedica on our website. Then this is the – by the way, I just use even just a little cap. I fill that cap up, put it in my mouth. This is the syringe that we were referring to, so there it is, Elixinol 18%. This cap pops off, doesn’t screw off. I’m just going to show you this. I’m going to push a little bit out. This dials how many milliliters, right, doc? There’s 15 milliliters. You said one milliliter is how much?
Dr. Blair:
It’s 180 milligrams.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, so ½ a milliliter then is obviously 90 milligrams. You said five milligrams per kilogram, correct, of body weight?
Dr. Blair:
Right. Mm-hmm. An average woman is about 50 kilos, and so I typically – I’m seeing about 250 milligrams a day in divided dosage. That again is for people with some fairly severe problems. If we’re talking about something as simple as Alzheimer’s disease, really, we only have to deal with ¼ of a milliliter, and we’re seeing profound results with that.
Meredith:
Wow.
Dr. Pompa:
A quarter of a milliliter, so there’s one milliliter, so you could set it as a quarter. Now I have found, doc, that it’s very difficult to push this out of, so I put mine under some hot water for a minute. What do you do, doc? What’s your suggestion?
Dr. Blair:
Yes. I do the same thing. I use an immersion in hot water, but that particular syringe is being phased out for one that is much easier to use. Comes in a clear syringe that’ll be easy to express, and we don’t have to go through the gyrations to get out this valuable oil.
Dr. Pompa:
Right. Now, for people that need a less dose, like you said – we’ve talked about conditions even up to 250 milligrams in a day in divided doses. There is also a much easier form that is very good sublingual. Show that one, Meredith. I don’t have that.
Meredith:
The tincture here.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. That’s the tincture. Talk about that, doc.
Dr. Blair:
The tincture is more dilute. It’s placed in MCT oil, and it does have a little bit of flavoring. It’s reasonably attractive and tasty, and it provides all the same benefits. It just doesn’t have the concentration. The concentration, I believe, is – what’s the concentration on that tincture?
Meredith:
Okay. In ½ of a milliliter, there are five milligrams of CBD.
Dr. Blair:
Okay. That turns out to be an excellent dose for children, as well as adults who have relatively minor problems, and interestingly, also applies to animals.
Meredith:
Wow.
Dr. Pompa:
I’ve got clients who use the two of them together because that makes a good taste. It smoothes it out. They use a dropper of that and little bit of this.
Dr. Blair:
Yes. I think that sounds like a good combination and should be very effective. I’d focus on the number of milligrams and my medical background, trying to be consistent with the doses, but combining those two and putting it into a favorable format is very, very good. The other thing I’ll add is that there are other benefits of taking in omega-3-types of oils. I mentioned that they really work together with the endocannabinoid system and with CBD. People should be getting sufficient amount of omega-3, and one of the best places to get that is through the hemp oil. It has significant amounts of omega-3s that are well absorbed.
Dr. Pompa:
I love the balance. Hemp oil has a four to one ratio of omega-3 to omega-6, which just happens to be the ratio that targets the cell membrane, by the way. We know that certain ratios of omega-3 and omega-6 actually are specific for different conditions. For example, the brain, the four to one ratio of 6 to 3 is the ratio that targets the brain. Matter of fact, it’s really the ratio, they say, matters even more than just taking too much omega-3, which can actually throw you into omega-3 dominance. Hemp oil has the perfect ratio, ironically enough, that targets the brain and the cell membrane. Really interesting.
Dr. Blair:
Now you know that they are both connected, and they work through similar processes. They’re both activating the endocannabinoid system, so it’s an added benefit that you can capitalize on.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. It just makes so much sense. Let’s say that you’re an athlete wanting to recover faster. What dose, doc? What dose would you recommend?
Dr. Blair:
That’s an interesting question. I haven’t had many athletes. Right now, I’m recommending 45 milligrams in a divided dose during the day, seeing how people respond. You bring up a good point. Everybody’s going to respond differently. We’ve set some parameters and said, “Okay, this is about the right one.” For people who are using it and different conditions, they can tailor their application or the use depending on what they’re experiencing, the benefits that they’re receiving, and how far do they want to go.
Since it really normalized cell function, it’s not like any other substance that you’re taking. You’re not going become a super athlete because of this. It’s going to normalize and reduce the inflammation and the other problems that you might encounter, restoring natural and normal cell function.
Dr. Pompa:
No doubt. Out of this, what is 45 milligrams? How would they –
Dr. Blair:
That’s ¼ milliliter.
Dr. Pompa:
Mm-hmm. That’d be ¼ milliliter, so every one of these things from seven to eight, for example, is a milliliter, correct?
Dr. Blair:
Correct.
Dr. Pompa:
We would say about ¼ of that, and you’re giving that divided how many times during the day?
Dr. Blair:
Typically, three times during the day.
Dr. Pompa:
Three times during the day, so you would take 45 and divide it by 3, approximately.
Dr. Blair:
Correct.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. That’s for the average person, you’re saying.
Dr. Blair:
Yes.
Dr. Pompa:
Am I correct on that?
Dr. Blair:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay, good. Obviously, with different conditions, you’d go all the way up, even up to 250. Those are severe conditions.
Dr. Blair:
That’s a woman who has a significant disease. For a man, we’re really talking with an average weight of about 70 kilos, we’re talking about 350.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay. Yeah. Those are good numbers to know for those types of conditions. In that case, let’s say 250 would be how much of the milliliter here that we roll out?
Dr. Blair:
If we just ballpark it, it’s about 1 ½ milliliters.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay. One and a half milliliters would be about right there. You see, you can adjust this. Each mark is a milliliter. I’m just telling people. They can jot it down. They can re-watch the show just -inaudible-
Dr. Blair:
For your athletes, a tincture may be a good place to start because that’s five milligrams in ½ milliliter. You can easily adjust the milliliters that you’re giving in the syringe – excuse me, in the bottle.
Dr. Pompa:
Meredith, correct me if I’m wrong. One full dropper, then, is 10 milligrams.
Meredith:
Correct. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Pompa:
I am correct? Okay, good. Ten milligrams, if you did two twice a day, you’d get about forty milligrams.
Dr. Blair:
Correct.
Dr. Pompa:
Right. Okay. I’m just giving people an idea just so they can – I’m trying to bail Meredith off with getting a lot of calls, Meredith. That’s why I’m doing this.
Meredith:
-inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
Now you can tell them, “Just watch the show.” Right, Meredith? “Just watch the show.”
Meredith:
Just set up the recording. Yes. Could you give this to babies, the tincture or the oil?
Dr. Blair:
Yeah, and we do it all the time, especially with epilepsy, children who have not responded to other types of therapy. The average dose that we’re seeing with kids is about 6 ½ milligrams per kilogram. If we’re talking about 30 kilogram child, which is – that’s not a baby, but we’re talking about a fairly significant dosage. Absolutely no adverse effects from that. We haven’t seen any problems as a result of very high doses in children.
There is no toxic dose that has been prescribed or that has been found in any case. An infant, I don’t see any particular problem specifically, but I don’t have the research, and I don’t have the human studies to prove that.
Meredith:
Mm-hmm. Right. It almost seems too good to be true. There’s no drawbacks, all of these incredible benefits. Are there really no contraindications with any dosage you’ve found whatsoever with any health condition?
Dr. Blair:
There are theoretical concerns, but I haven’t found any in practice. Now, some people do respond with, if they’re taking high doses, with an increase in fatigue. That’s typical of your geriatric population, so you get over 80 and taking a pretty strong dose on the order of the 250 milligrams, they may become quite fatigued with it, in which case I always have them look at their other medications, though. Most commonly, it’s a matter of those other medicines being potentiated, so those other medicines are acting like they’re stronger and giving these symptoms, when, in fact, that’s the issue rather than being the CBD as causing the fatigue.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah.
Meredith:
Mm-hmm. I have a question. What about just the typical healthy person that maybe isn’t struggling with a chronic condition or isn’t engaging in extreme exercise? Would this be a benefit just to add into the arsenal of a supplement you would take to enhance your health, or would it be worth it?
Dr. Blair:
I think it is because we all face sort of foggy brain. We have difficulty getting going. We may have some sleeping or anxiety difficulties. What do we do now for those things? You either take a pill, or you take some Tylenol, take one of these other substances. CBD will have the effect of improving cognition, helping recall, actually improving vision, and reducing inflammation. There’s a number of particular benefits for people who are absolutely normal, but would like to use something to help them occasionally when they’re feeling stress.
Why do people drink coffee? It’s to get a boost, isn’t it? We’re talking about the same thing. For smoking – look at how many smokers are out there who would love to quit, but they’re addicted to the nicotine.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah.
Dr. Blair:
This is something that will block that nicotine craving and allow them to quit without looking back, with no cravings, and have full function.
Dr. Pompa:
It’s funny you said that because I had a patient that said their sugar cravings went away when they started using it. They were using it to help modulate their pain, and they realized all their cravings went away. Interesting you said that -inaudible-.
Meredith:
Wow.
Dr. Blair:
Even something more, and I think that there’s good applications for even just the tincture on insect stings and even certain types of skin lesions that have occurred. I have reports from a health provider who used it on his basal cell cancer and resolved that basal cell cancer by using a topical application of a tincture.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. It’s amazing. Listen, doc, we are so grateful that you took your time and brought your expertise with this CBD on our show. I know our viewers are extremely grateful, as well. Meredith, just remind them because people obviously want to order the product. This is organic, and it’s guaranteed at 18% CBD. That’s why we’ve chosen it, for sure. We really have teamed up with Elixinol to bring this product to as many people as we can because we believe in it.
Dr. Blair:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk with you about this. This is my passion. This is extraordinary in terms of its ability to revolutionize medication, medical care, and medical health for the entire world.
Dr. Pompa:
You know what? We’d love to have you back, too. There’s a lot of things we could focus in on in just even one area. We’ll do that in the future. Go ahead, Meredith. Sign us off, and remind them just what to do to get it.
Meredith:
I will. I do want to thank you again, Dr. Blair. You are such a wealth of information, and your passion shines through on this topic. Thank you so much for sharing with us and our audience. I know I learned so much today. Actually, breaking news here. We just got our website set up for the CBD oil, so now you can order it online. It is TakeCBDOil.com. That’s T-A-K-E-C-B-D-O-I-L.com. You can go online and order the syringe like we talked about right here or the tincture. We’re going to have both of those available. The syringe in non-flavored, and we have a natural flavor and a cinnamon flavor of the tincture.
You could also give us a call, too, at 888-600-0642 if you’re interested in ordering over the phone. Thanks again, Dr. Blair. Thank you so much, Dr. Pompa. Awesome show! Amazing information. We’ll see you next week.
