Chapter 16 ~
CANNABIS AND THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
This chapter covers the following sections:
v The role of Cannabis in Osteoporosis.
v The role of coconut oil in bone health.
v The risk of fractures due to the side-effects of certain
pharmaceutical drugs.
Some might see the humour in writing about Cannabis
medicine and joint conditions like arthritis or joint-destruction; and we’ve
all heard the jokes about the little old lady with stiff joints because she
rolled them too tightly! So, for this chapter, a joint is not a Cannabis
cigarette, but that body part where two bones meet, for example the knees,
ankles, hips, fingers and so on, and, of course, the entire spinal cord. Arthritis
is a debilitating disorder characterised by swelling of the joints. The pain
and swelling set in when the cartilage breaks down and the bones start to rub
against one another. To this day, there are no proven pharmaceutical
medications or treatments that can stop cartilage damage or completely repair
damaged cartilage. So the focus is on reducing pain, swelling, inflammation and
stiffness with oral pain medications, pain-relieving topical treatments,
cortisone joint injections and also Hyaluronic acid joint injections. There are
also surgical options, from arthroscopy, which is cartilage repair, osteotomy,
which is bone removal, and then you can also have a joint fusion or a total
joint replacement, for example a knee or hip replacement.
Looking to natural medicine we learn that
Cannabis assists in new bone formation, and this has led to new studies in the
treatment of osteoporosis. Dr Yankel Gabet is a bone researcher at Tel
Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Gabet and his team
discovered that the Cannabinoid, now
famously known as CBD, enhances bone healing by strengthening the cartilage
‘bridge’ that forms when a bone is repairing itself. This bridge is known
as the ‘fracture callus’, and it is
made of collagen which then gradually mineralizes and hardens into new bone.
This new bone formation occurs around the old damaged bone, and scientists say
that this automatically strengthens the joints as well.
Results revealed that this new strengthened
collagen tissue was stronger than the older tissue (by up to 30 to 50% in most
research studies). This means that bones treated with Cannabis are less likely
to break in the future. Because we have Cannabinoid receptors on all our bone
cells, we know that our EC system continues to regulate bone loss after
menopause. Further research from Tel Aviv University reveals that not only CBD
is involved in new bone formation but also CBC, CBG, CBN and THCV, proving, once
again, that all of the plant’s chemical components are needed for overall
healing throughout the body. [187] (Tel Aviv University, 2015)
Osteoporosis is a degenerative skeletal disease
that causes deterioration of bone tissue. This condition affects men and women.
People suffering from osteoporosis are at risk of suffering multiple fractures
and other serious disabilities normally associated with osteoporosis. It is
said that a bone is broken every three seconds in the world from this condition,
and what is really sad, is that many people will not even know that they have osteoporosis
until their first fracture.
This is why it is called the ‘silent disease’ and,
even sadder, sometimes even after a break, the condition goes untreated. It is
true that first fractures are usually quickly followed by more fractures, and
so it really is important to promote early detection, even, before the first
fracture occurs.
Genetic factors, menstruation, pregnancy and
menopause all play a role in determining whether a person is at risk, and
certainly women are more affected than are men; however nowadays we are seeing
an increase in male osteoporosis. Research shows that nearly two thirds of
women aged 80 and above already have the condition, and about 33% of women and
20% of men over the age of 50 will experience an osteoporotic fracture. [188] (Young-Kyun Lee, 2013) From around the age of the mid-20’s thinning of
bones becomes a natural process, so it makes sense that the thicker your bones
are, the less likely they are to become thin enough to break. Osteoporosis is a
serious problem in our ageing population, and, according to the International
Osteoporosis Foundation this disease now affects more than 200 million
people worldwide. In Chapter Ten we learnt that Cannabis is now being considered
for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis, because it is actively
involved in new bone formation, and because it can encourage the production of latent
Mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow.
Another reason I chose OV coconut oil as my
extraction solvent, is that there has always been evidence to prove that OV
coconut oil can help to prevent osteoporosis. In Chapter Two we learnt that one
of the most incredible things about OV coconut oil is that, like Cannabis, it
also helps us to absorb nutrients and vitamins; especially the way in which
both Cannabis and OV coconut oil can improve our absorption of minerals like
calcium and magnesium, and, importantly, the fat-soluble vitamins we need for overall
bone health.
The importance of
Vitamins in bone health
The importance of OV coconut oil in bone health is
that it specifically helps us to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
Both Cannabis and Coconut can help us to absorb and metabolise fat-soluble
vitamins that we need to maintain bone health.
VITAMIN A
Vitamin A plays an essential role in the formation
of osteoblasts, which are the cells responsible for building bone cells that
form new bone in our bodies. If we are deficient in vitamin A, our calcium
absorption is limited, and this results in poor bone health. Eventually
osteoporosis will set in. It is very interesting that scientists have
discovered that vitamin A also functions as a hormone, and is involved in the
regulation and expression of many of our genes.
VITAMIN D
Vitamin D and calcium are a
powerful combination for bone health because they both assist in the prevention
of osteoporosis, since they aid in combating magnesium deficiencies. One of the most important benefits of vitamin D is that it helps the
body to absorb calcium, and this link has been known for many decades. It isn’t
a vitamin, but rather an important neuro-regulatory steroid-hormone which
influences nearly 3000 of our 25 000 genes. Vitamin D quite literally
switches on and off the genes that can prevent many diseases, including
osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
We have been misinformed about Cannabis and coconut and so many other natural remedies, and I do believe that we have also been misinformed about vitamin D and, in particular, sunshine. I believe that one of the main reasons we have such high rates of chronic disease is due to vitamin D deficiency. In the next chapter we will learn more about Cannabis and vitamin D.
VITAMIN E
Besides being a powerful antioxidant, vitamin E
also possesses oestrogenic, androgenic and progesterone-like properties, and
again we can see how a fat-soluble vitamin has hormone-like effects on our
body. Because of these characteristics, vitamin E plays a crucial role in our
endocrine and nervous systems by working to balance all of our hormones. The
main mechanism by which vitamin E affects bone health is through its
anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. The role of vitamin E in these
processes is clearly identified, and medically significant in the prevention of
chronic diseases like osteoporosis and cancer. Scientists agree that
supplementing with vitamin E can contribute to the prevention of bone loss and
improve the biomechanical properties of our bones. [189] (Mohamed et al, 2012)
VITAMIN K
Vitamin K, and
specifically vitamin K2, is another key player in bone health, and is crucial
in helping us to prevent bone fractures as we age. A study published in Osteoporosis
International concluded that lifetime supplementation with vitamin K1,
K2, vitamin D3, and calcium is likely to reduce fractures and increase survival
in postmenopausal women. Vitamin K1 is
found in most green vegetables, and it is important to know that vitamin K1
goes directly to your liver and where it helps you to maintain a healthy blood
clotting system. There are different forms of vitamin K2 known as vitamin MK4,
MK7, MK8, and MK9. This sounds like a serious arsenal, but the form of vitamin
K that has the most relevance for health benefits is MK7.
MK7 is extracted from the Japanese fermented soy product called natto. Fermented soy is the good soy. Unfortunately there is bad soya and in fact, soya is considered to be one of the most toxic plants known to human beings. Soya is implicated in the increase in breast cancer, particularly among vegetarians and vegans. For more information on this topic I recommend you visit www.mayanmajix.com/soy.html&hl=e-ZA. Very few people can easily tolerate the smell or slimy texture of natto , so most people prefer to take a supplement. You can also get vitamin MK7 by eating certain fermented cheeses like Gouda or brie, and by consuming grass-fed organic animal products like eggs, butter and dairy products. There has been some truly remarkable research about the protective effects of vitamin K2 against osteoporosis. A number of Japanese trials have shown that vitamin K2 completely reverses bone loss, and in some cases, even increases bone mass (not only density) in people with osteoporosis. The collective evidence of seven Japanese trials shows that vitamin K2 supplementation produces a 60% reduction in vertebral fractures and an 80 percent reduction in hip and other non-vertebral fractures. [190] (Mercola D, 2012)
Researchers in
the Netherlands showed that vitamin K2 is three times more effective than is vitamin
K1 in raising Osteocalcin, the bone cell responsible for the building of bone,
and is needed to bind calcium into bones.
Newer research has revealed evidence that vitamin K (specifically, vitamin K2) plays a vital role in directing calcium to your skeleton and teeth, while preventing it from being deposited where it is not wanted, e.g. in organs, joint spaces, and arteries. In other words, vitamin K assists bones to absorb calcium directly, and at the same time protects the blood vessels from calcifying when in the presence of high calcium levels. [191] (Mercola D, 2010) Both Cannabis and OV coconut oil can help people to absorb all of these fat-soluble vitamins, and this is another secret to the sucess of Cannabis medicine.
Why do pharmaceutical drugs cause more fractures?
One of the strangest things about pharmaceutical drugs is that they tend
to cause the very symptoms for which they are prescribed. If you look closely
you will see, for example, with epilepsy drugs, there are seizures listed among
the side-effects, cancer treatments cause more cancer, anti-depressants cause
more depression and suicidal thoughts, anti-cholesterol drugs cause more
cholesterol.
We should not therefore be surprised to see that many osteoporosis drugs
actually contribute to fractures and loss of bone density. It even says so on
the information insert of most products. [192] (Panday et al, 2014)
We have a perfectly natural
system where bones are constantly being restored so they can stay flexible and
strong. Osteoporosis drugs do not allow old bone cells to be shed,
so bones end up becoming thick and brittle made up mostly of worn out cells,
and appearing to be more dense on x-rays, but in reality, they are weaker . This
is why a lot of patients are, ironically more prone to fractures. We can however
depend on Cannabis, to offer healing, and to lessen the side-effects of pharmaceutical
damage on our bodies. When we study documentaries on ancient humans we realize
exactly how strong human bones are, especially when we are still finding them
millions of years later.
Something has gone horribly
wrong for so many people who are now suffering from such weak bones. For
example, we can all agree that the femur, the thigh bone, is the strongest (and
longest) bone in the body. Under normal circumstances, it doesn’t just snap for
no reason; yet femoral fractures are the most common of fractures associated
with osteoporosis drugs, because they make bones brittle and weak, causing
breaks when people are involved in simple everyday activities like just
watering the garden. [193] (Vivian Goldschmidt, 2019) Again I’d like to stress that Cannabis will never give you seizures,
fractures, pain, weight gain, high cholesterol, liver and stomach damage,
kidney damage, depression or any of the other harmful side-effects we can read
about on the leaflets inside their designer drug containers.
Please don’t wait until you are struggling to use
your hands if you suspect you might have arthritis or osteoporosis. Start
preventative Cannabis treatment immediately to avoid suffering later in
life. No plant can cure absolutely everything, and so no one should expect
this of Cannabis. However, in this plant, we have the most amazing healing potential,
especially in respect of preventative medicine. This is because of the
protective role Cannabis plays in our bodies.
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