Article: Therapeutic Hemp Oil by Andrew Weil, M.D.

[Guest guest]

An article on Hemp Seed Oil by a rather prominent mainstream

" alternative medicine " figure in the USA

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

New Item To Be Listed This Week

Hemp Seed Oil - On Sale!

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

http://www.ratical.org/renewables/TherapHoil.html

 

Therapeutic Hemp Oil

 

by Andrew Weil, M.D.

 

The nutritional composition of oil from the marijuana plant could be

beneficial to your health. To most people, Cannabis sativa is synonymous

with marijuana, but the plant's Latin name means the " useful hemp. "

Species designated sativa (useful) are usually among the most important

of all crops. In fact, the utility of hemp is manifold: the plant has

provided human beings with fiber, edible seeds, an edible oil, and

medicine, not just a notorious mind-altering drug.

 

In our part of the world, these other uses of hemp are no longer

familiar. We rarely use hemp fiber and know little about hemp medicine.

(Some cancer patients have found it to be a superior remedy for the

nausea caused by chemotherapy, and some people with multiple sclerosis

are grateful for its relaxant effects on spastic muscles.) Hemp seed is

sometimes an ingredient in bird food; otherwise, edible products from

Cannabis sativa are virtually unknown.

 

This may all change. In many parts of the country, promoters of hemp

cultivation are working to educate people about the immense potential of

this plant and to reintroduce it into commerce. They champion hemp as a

renewable source of pulp for the manufacture of paper, as a superior

fiber for making cloth, and as a new food that can be processed into

everything from a milk substitute to a kind of tofu.

 

Hemp seeds contain 25% high quality protein and 40% fat in the form of

an excellent quality oil. Hemp oil is just now coming on the market.

Produced by the Ohio Hempery in Athens, Ohio, it will be sold through

natural food stores in small, opaque bottles to be kept under

refrigeration. It has a remarkable fatty acid profile, being high in the

desirable omega-3s and also delivering some GLA (gamma-linolenic acid)

that is absent from the fats we normally eat. Nutritionally oriented

doctors believe all of these compounds to be beneficial to health.

 

Hemp oil contains 57% linoleic (LA) and 19% linolenic (LNA) acids, in

the three-to-one ratio that matches our nutritional needs. These are the

essential fatty acids (EFAs)-so called because the body cannot make them

and must get them from external sources. The best sources are oils from

freshly ground grains and whole seeds, but EFAs are fragile and quickly

lost in processing. EFAs are the building blocks of longer chain fats,

such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) that occur

naturally in the fat of cold-water fish like sardines, mackerel, salmon,

bluefish, herring, and, to a lesser extent, tuna.

 

Adding these foods to the diet seems to lower risks of heart attacks

because omega-3 fatty acids reduce the clotting tendency of the blood

and improve cholesterol profiles. They also have a natural

anti-inflammatory effect that makes them useful for people with

arthritis and autoimmune disorders.

 

Health food stores stock many brands of EPA/DHA supplements in the form

of fish oil capsules. I usually do not recommend them because I think

it's better to get your essential fatty acids in foods, and I worry

about toxic contaminants in fish oil supplements. But what can you do if

you choose, for one reason or another, not to eat fish? You can get some

omega-3s in expeller pressed canola oil, the only common vegetable oil

that contains them.

 

A much richer source is flax oil. Flax oil is pressed from the seeds of

Linum utilitatissimum, the source of linen fiber and an oil better known

in this country as linseed oil, the base for oil paints.

 

Linseed oil is usually classified as a " drying oil " rather than a food

oil because its chemical characteristics cause it to combine readily

with oxygen and become thick and hard. This tendency to harden on

exposure to air quickly turns linseed oil rancid and unfit to eat, but

makes it useful as a vehicle for pigment on canvas. (The word " canvas "

by the way is a relative of " Cannabis, " because true canvas is made from

hemp fiber.)

 

For dietary purposes flax oil must be pressed at low temperatures,

protected from light, heat, and air, stored at cool temperatures, and

used quickly once the containers are opened. Most flax oil is not

delicious. There is great variation in taste among the brands currently

sold in natural food stores, but the best of them still leaves much to

be desired.

 

I have been recommending flax oil as a dietary supplement to patients

with autoimmune disorders, arthritis, and other inflammatory conditions,

but about half of them cannot tolerate it. Some say it makes them gag,

even when concealed in salad dressing or mashed into a baked potato.

These people have to resort to taking flax oil capsules, which are large

and expensive.

 

Udo Erasmus, author of the classic book, Fats and Oils (Alive, 1986),

[and <http://www.udoerasmus.com/fatsmain.htm> Fats that Heal, Fats that

Kill, The Complete Guide to fats, oils, cholesterol and human health,

Second Printing of Fats and Oils, (Alive, 1996). This book is a fabulous

resource on nutrition --ratitor <http://www.ratical.org/rhrPress.html> ]

says that the problem is freshness. Unless you get flax oil right from

the processor and freeze it until you start using it, it will already

have deteriorated by the time you buy it. Hemp oil contains more EFAs

than flax and actually tastes good. It is nutty and free from the

objectionable undertones of flax oil. I use it on salads, baked

potatoes, and other foods and would not consider putting it in capsules.

 

 

Like flax oil, hemp oil should be stored in the refrigerator, used

quickly, and never heated. Unlike flax oil, hemp oil also provides 1.7%

gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). There is controversy about the value of

adding this fatty acid to the diet, but many people take supplements of

it in the form of capsules of evening primrose oil, black currant oil,

and borage oil. My experience is that it simulates growth of hair and

nails, improves the health of the skin, and can reduce inflammation. I

like the idea of having one good oil that supplies both omega-3s and

GLA, without the need to take more capsules.

 

One of the questions that people are sure to ask about hemp oil is

whether it has any psychoactivity. The answer is no. The intoxicating

properties of Cannabis sativa reside in a sticky resin produced most

abundantly in the flowering tops of female plants before the seeds

mature. The main psychoactive compound in this resin is

tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

 

Strains of hemp grown for oil production have a low resin content to

begin with, and by the time the seeds are ready for harvest, resin

production has dropped even further. Finally, the seeds must be cleaned

and washed before they are pressed. As a result, no THC is found in the

final product.

 

A second question that people may ask is, " Is hemp oil illegal? " The oil

itself is perfectly legal. Hemp seeds are allowed in commerce if they

have been sterilized in some way to prevent germination. This is usually

done by subjecting them to heat. At the moment, the Ohio Hempery is

importing sterilized seeds from Canada and extracting the oil here, but

it hopes to get some sort of exemption from this requirement in order to

be able to use the freshest seeds possible in the future.

 

Obviously, there is a political dimension to the appearance of this

product. For many years, Cannabis sativa has been stigmatized as a

satanic plant and its cultivation has been prohibited. As an

ethnobotanist interested in the relationships between plants and human

beings, I have always felt that making plants illegal was stupid,

especially when the objects of these actions are supremely useful plants

like hemp. The plant is not responsible for human misuse of it.

 

The efforts of the Ohio Hempery and other groups to promote hemp

cultivation are part of a campaign to rehabilitate this plant and change

society's view of it. Whether or not you wish to join that campaign, it

must seem counterproductive to deny ourselves access to the many

benefits that hemp offers. Of those, the gift of an edible oil with

superior nutritional and therapeutic properties is one of the most

important.

 

If you have a chance to try hemp oil, a long forgotten, newly

rediscovered food, I think you will see why I am enthusiastic about it.

 

Andrew Weil teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine,

has a private medical practice, and is the author of Natural Health,

Natural Medicine.

 

 

 

 

_____