CBD is also a cannabinoid, but you won't find much CBD if you look at a fresh cannabis plant. Instead, you'll see abundant amounts of CBDA.
CBDa
is a compound that eventually converts to CBD. While CBD comes from cultivated and cured cannabis plants, CBDA is found in plants that are still growing.The main difference between CBDA and CBD is that CBDA is a chemical precursor to cannabidiol (CBD), similar but not acidic. What that means is that it is a natural compound found in the raw plant. As with many other cannabinoids, CBDA undergoes transformation when cannabis is processed. When the plant is heated, cured, or dried, acidic compounds break down into new chemicals.
This is the process that produces large amounts of CBD from CBDA. CBDA is the chemical precursor to CBD. In a process called thermal decarboxylation, CBDA is converted to CBD when the CBDA molecule heats up and loses its acidic carboxyl group. This decarboxylation process can occur instantly, such as when cannabis material is ignited and smoked or vaporized, or by slow degradation over time if the plant material is allowed to stand at room temperature.
CBDA is available in many cannabis products. Consumers can purchase raw hemp oil products, such as raw CBD oil, CBDA capsules, and CBDA tinctures. Users can ingest them or add these oils to food and beverages or take tinctures sublingually. CBDA's affinity for serotonin receptors helps affect everything from mood to nausea and inflammation.
Synthetic CBDA may be on the horizon, but there is no guarantee that it will perform better than its natural counterpart. CBD has been the subject of much more research, while studies on CBDa are in the preclinical stage in animal trials. When the plant is activated (a heat process), the acid is removed from the CBDA, activating the CBD. By comparison, CBDA has attracted much less attention from the public, the scientific community and the media, despite being the precursor to CBD formation and showing promise in early preclinical research.
When the acid form is decarboxylated, CBDA is transformed into CBD, the active ingredient in many infused products. A preclinical study focusing on the downregulation of Cox-2 enzymes found that CBDA could help suppress the spread of a specific type of breast cancer cells. THC has been used for medicinal and recreational purposes for centuries, while CBD has recently burst onto the scene. When you take CBDA products, they should taste like a freshly squeezed cannabis plant, producing a spicy sensation in the back of the mouth and throat.
Meanwhile, CBDA is in the early stages of research, but it shows just as much, if not more, promise than CBD. CBDA oil, CBDA tincture, and CBDA drops refer to CBDA in a form that can be taken sublingually, added to food, or applied directly to the skin. CBD, the main non-psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis, has been well researched for its suspected therapeutic potential, and is currently thought to be able to treat epilepsy, inflammation, anxiety disorders and a number of other common physical and neuropsychiatric conditions. Normally, CBDA and other acid forms of cannabinoids are not considered pharmacologically active.
CBDA or CBGA products, such as oils, which offer them in their raw form, do not work the same in marijuana products, which generally include high levels of THC, the psychoactive compound that places it. CBGA, known as cannabigerolic acid, is considered the “parent cannabinoid”, because without it, there is no CBD, CBDA or THC. .
