Author(s): GAFFNEY, C., WRENCH, E., WOODWARD, T., BRADSHAW, H., WRIGHT, K., Institution: LANCASTER UNIVERSITY, Country: UNITED KINGDOM, Abstract-ID: 1720

INTRODUCTION:
Cannabidiol (CBD) has demonstrated anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anxiolytic and neuroprotective effects, which have attracted the attention of athletes. CBD is available commercially in the UK with a daily limit of 70mg advised by the Food Standards Agency at the time of the study design. This study investigated the effects of CBD following muscle-damaging exercise.
METHODS:
Twenty healthy volunteers (mean ± SD) age 22 ± 3 years (10 males and 10 females), V̇O2max: 46.5 ± 6.7 mL.min-1.kg-1, participated in this randomised, double-blind, crossover trial. Participants completed two experimental sessions, separated by a ≥7-day washout. During experimental sessions, participants were administered a single oral dose of CBD (70 mg in medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil) or placebo (MCT oil) (randomised), co-administered with consumption of a standardized snack bar (257 kcal, 41g CHO, 8g fat, 3g protein), 1 hour before undertaking a submaximal -10% downhill run for 30 minutes at 70% V̇O2max. Pain tolerance was measured using muscle algometry and venous blood was drawn pre- and post-run, then at 24- and 48-hours post-run. Data were analysed using mixed-model ANOVA with a Šidák post-hoc test. Significance was defined as p<0.05.
RESULTS:
Downhill running caused a significant decrease in pain tolerance that was blunted in the CBD treatment (post-run: -19.6 ± 15.6% in placebo, -2.4 ± 17.3% in CBD, p <0.01). This was associated with an increase in plasma creatine kinase activity 24h after running in the placebo treatment that was similarly blunted by CBD (24h: +25.3 ± 23.4% in placebo, +3.1 ± 14.2% in CBD, p <0.01). Downhill running increased plasma TNF-α (p <0.05) across the 48h following downhill running, but there was no effect of CBD (p >0.05). There was no difference in plasma IL-10 or IL-1b across the 48h (p >0.05). Lipidomics of plasma samples pre- and post- downhill running revealed an increase in N-acylethanolamines anandamide (p <0.001), oleoylethanolamine (p <0.001), palmitoylethanolamine (p <0.001), stearoylethanolamine SEA (p <0.001), and linoleoyl ethanolamine LEA (p <0.001) but there was no effect of CBD (p >0.05).
CONCLUSION:
A single ingested dose of 70mg CBD blunts markers of exercise-induced muscle damage within the 48h following exercise. The mechanism of this benefit is not reflected in plasma-derived inflammatory cytokines nor changes in fatty acid amide metabolites.