Business Insights, Wellbeing
CBD & Sporting Life.
CBD & Sporting Life.
Clearing up Misconceptions and Looking at The Research Around CBD Use From a Sporting Perspective.
CBD, a food supplement derived from Industrial Hemp, has been gaining traction in the world of professional sport for the past few years. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared CBD products to be safe in their 2017 report which saw the anti-doping agency lift its ban on CBD in 2018. Thousands of professional athletes in a range of sports from golf to surfing, to MMA, rugby & more, have been discussing their use of CBD products in their day-to-day routines and how they feel they have benefited in their sporting lives. The Hemp Company brand ambassador Ryan Keogh, a rising star of MMA who recently took the amateur World Championship Gold medal featherweight title, is a strong advocate for hemp foods and CBD food supplements. He believes the nutritional benefits contribute to his well-being regime and the topical CBD balm helps him manage the bumps and bruises that are part of an athlete’s life.
Firstly, it is important to clear up the legal status of Cannabidiol in so far as is possible. In Ireland, CBD is not considered a narcotic under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Yet, there will always be trace levels of THC naturally present in Industrial Hemp from which full-spectrum products are made. Similarly in Europe CBD products are considered to be a food supplement. The tiny amount of 0.2% THC in CBD products has been generally accepted both in Ireland and Europe and is not considered to be a health concern in line with WHO findings. Meanwhile, the European Commission has noted cannabidiol (CBD) should not be considered as a drug within the meaning of the United Nations Single Convention and can be qualified as food.
A new generation of young athletes and sportspeople are more nutrition-conscious than ever and realise that attention to their mental, emotional and physical well-being is an important part of their professional practice. On the cusp of his professional career, Ryan Keogh is committed as ever to his Hemp foods, CBD, and CBG food supplements. As he says himself:
“It’s good for my whole wellbeing. When your body is feeling calm your brain’s gonna feel calm. That’s when you perform at your best.”
We are often asked by sports enthusiasts and professional athletes if levels of THC in our products will leave them at risk of failing a drugs test for their chosen sport. In fact, the minute amounts of THC naturally occurring in Industrial Hemp, <0.2%, are but trace and barely detectable with no likelihood of being unsafe as the World Health Organisation has confirmed many times. In fact, hemp has been grown as an agricultural crop for millennia and is renowned for its nutritional benefits as a food. For those who still prefer to err on the side of caution we provide The Hemp Company Broad Spectrum CBD range which will have the trace elements of THC further extracted.
Here at the Hemp Company, we take our responsibility to customers very seriously in choosing our CBD product range. With a 20year track record, we are the oldest dedicated retailer of quality hemp products in the EU! We are proud members of Hemp Federation Ireland and the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA.) We are full partners in the EIHA Novel Foods Consortium, a pan-European industry initiative providing highly scientific clinical and toxicological studies to help EU and Irish regulators better understand our products. We strongly advise customers to always source CBD and hemp products from a quality stockist and follow the dosage instructions.
We work with Europe’s premium CBD manufacturer who creates our signature brand of The Hemp Company CBD products both Full and Broad Spectrum. They also make our lesser-known cannabinoid supplement CBG, favoured by sports people for focus and recovery when in training. Our products are made in an advanced ‘state of the art’ manufacturing facility in full compliance with ISO 222000 standards. Our staff are knowledgeable and confident to discuss options on a personal basis to ensure that Hemp Company customers get the perfect products for their needs. As new brands continue to flood the market there are few with a track record that compares for quality value and customer trust.
For those competing in sports, either on an amateur or professional basis, it is common to suffer from some degree of pre-performance anxiety or sleep issues. There is no avoiding injury and pain for our athletes and sportspeople as they continue to provide us with endless exciting entertainment and national pride. Traditionally athletes, our modern-day warriors, used anti-inflammatory medications or prescription drugs to treat their problems, whereas now they are looking to more natural sources. Positive research is starting to now emerge as scientific research in all area’s CBD catches up with what anecdotal evidence has been suggesting for many years.
In a September 2021 Harvard Medical Publishing article they examined the use of CBD and recent and ongoing research surrounding its potential benefits. ‘We need more research but CBD may prove to be a helpful, relatively non-toxic option for managing anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain.’ A July 2021 article on BBC Sport interviewed a number of professional rugby players about their use of CBD: ‘Finn Russell uses it to help him sleep. Jerome Kaino takes some to ease knee pain. While Jim Hamilton needs it to cope with the aches he still lives with five years after retiring.’ It is clear from a look at the emerging group of sporting CBD advocates, that it is to be seriously considered as part of a sporting lifestyle.
As Ryan Keogh firmly states: “Everything I put into my body is for training for my sport”. At The Hemp Company, we believe that supporting our athletes and sports stars to move away from pharmacological preparations and towards healthy plant-based alternatives is good for them and good for sport.
References
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/golfers-have-embraced-cbd-but-have-the-authorities-1.4249769
https://wavelengthmag.com/can-cbd-everyday-surfer/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT48VSfIzd7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/57415192
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4669958/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7023045/#B66-antioxidants-09-00021
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-to-use-cbd-for-anxiety#research
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7204604/