What is Alzheimer's disease?
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a process of neurological decline that begins in middle age or old age. Symptoms of the disease include loss of memory, language ability, and cognitive skills.
Cannabinoids have been recognized to have neuroprotective abilities. Therefore, they are considered to have potential in the treatment of Alzheimer's as well as many other neurological diseases. There are several proposed mechanisms for this, such as free radical neutralization, anti-inflammatory, improving mitochondrial function, beta scavenging amyloid and cleaning up cellular debris.
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Cannabis and Alzheimer's
Scientists working for the US government were granted a patent in 2001, entitled: “cannabinoid as an antioxidant and neuroprotective”. In this patent, they state that cannabinoids have potential in the treatment of traumatic nervous system diseases such as stroke, or degenerative nervous system diseases, such as Alzheimer's.[1]
In a recent study by the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, scientists compared the neuroprotective abilities of 11 different cannabinoids against five cases of cellular stress that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Results showed that Δ8-THC, Δ9-THC, CBD, CBC, and CBN provided the best neuroprotective effects in all cases. In particular, the combination of THC and CBN provides a synergistic effect (the total effect is amplified when these two substances are used together). Combining THC with CBD also produces good results, but not synergistically.[2]
For Alzheimer's, patients are often advised to use CBD-rich products with a little THC and CBN. Full spectrum CBD oil is a very good choice, as it contains CBD along with other cannabinoids.
How to use cannabinoids for Alzheimer's
Dosage is usually aimed at medium or high dose, in the range of 10-1000mg of total CBD per day. This dose can be broken down to smaller doses, administered 2 or 3 times a day.
Always start from the smallest dose of about 5mg CBD on the first day, then gradually increase the dose every two days by 5-10mg until you find the right dose that gives the desired effect.
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Since each person responds differently to cannabinoids, it is best to experiment with different delivery systems while gradually and slowly increasing the dose to find the best way of administration and the most optimal dosage.
References
[1] HAMPSON, AXELROD, and GRIMALDI, “Cannabinoids As Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants.”
[2] Schubert et al., “Efficacy of Cannabinoids in a Pre-Clinical Drug-Screening Platform for Alzheimer’s Disease.”