The challenges with CBD and sports activities diet

However, the complex molecular profile of many CBD products means that consistent anti-doping guarantees are hard to come by for a category seeking a legitimate place at the table of clean sports performance.

“The sports nutrition category has been slow to introduce CBD, but it is now showing up in a variety of products including pre-workout formulas, recovery drinks, and post-workout products,” said Rick Collins, Partner at Collins, Gann, McCloskey & Barry in New York. “But athletes tested for drugs use CBD products at their own risk.”

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) puts it this way: “Many products that claim to be pure CBD extract or oil from the cannabis plant contain traces of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) or other cannabinoids. Therefore, a consumer who buys a CBD oil, extract or other CBD product should be aware that there is a high probability that it is a mixture of CBD and other prohibited cannabinoids such as THC. “

USDA Special Adviser Amy Eichner told us that anti-doping laboratories “can test and detect other cannabinoids,” of which there are more than 100 in common industrial hemp extracts – all of which are banned by WADA with the exception of CBD ( Cannabidiol) together with THC below a certain threshold.

“Our recommendation to athletes is not to use a cannabinoid product such as a CBD preparation during or near a competition,” said Eichner.

Separation problems in the closely related cannabinoid family

The biggest challenge in the formulation lies in the difficulty of extracting and isolating CBD from industrial hemp – hemp cannabinoids tend to stick together and traces of the other 100+ cannabinoids are invariably left behind.

British nutritionist, food rights expert and managing director of Legal Foods, Dr. Mark Tallon, stated, “The only possible products that contain only CBD are synthetic versions and even then there is the possible conversion to other cannabinoids.”

“Synthetics is really the only way for professional sport to have regular tests,” said Richard O’Halloran, head of organic sports from Los Angeles, where the Briton refined a CBD study with his US CBD supplier PureForm. “But synthetic also harbors risks. It’s really important to have third party testing and hosted Certificates of Analysis (CoAs) like we do. “

Third-party analytical laboratories, including California-based Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG) and ProVerde Laboratories in Massachusetts, certify CBD products such as AthleticCBD in California and the UK Organic Sport.

These programs scan for hundreds of WADA banned substances and include a selection of banned cannabinoids, including CBG (cannabinol), CBN (cannabinol), and CBC (cannabichromene).

BSCG President Oliver Catlin pointed out the existing ambiguity that while anti-doping organizations (ADOs) like the USADA could theoretically test for any banned cannabinoid, “if you look at the practical application of sports drug testing historically, none of the other natural cannabinoids like CBN, CBG or CBC have ever been targeted. “

“It is also unlikely to be the case in the future,” he said, “unless they show a performance-enhancing benefit or potential to cause harm … Programs like ours show athletes that CBD products are safe for use are acceptable. “

Catlin said commonly synthesized cannabinoids like Delta-8 or Delta-10 deserved more attention from ADO because they were linked to health problems and were often sold by companies “looking for loopholes”.

Certification reservations

Other certifiers keep their powder dry when it comes to CBD.

NSF International’s Certified for Sport program and Informed-Sport owned by LGC are vehemently refusing to certify CBD products, citing uncertainty about cannabinoids like THC and CBG in CBD products like tinctures, creams, pills and gels .

“We currently don’t allow CBD or hemp or cannabis products in our Certified for Sport program,” said John Travis, Technical Manager Certified for Sport at NSF. He observed that many sports organizations and even the U.S. military had developed their own cannabinoid attack criteria that further clouded the water of a safe and legal product and heightened their reluctance to use CBD.

(For example, the U.S. military’s Operation Supplement Safety program, which uses NSF certifications, bans all hemp extracts, including CBD.)

Dan Fabricant, CEO and President of the Natural Products Association (NPA), said existing certifications would benefit from greater mainstream adoption. “It’s not that labs can’t, but until you have the certifications that are recognized by the major sports organizations – baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey – or even law enforcement, how do you deal with doping problems?

“When the major sports federations have certification, they recommend that things get started.”

The THC Limit (and Other Cannabinoids) Dilemma

Since WADA gave CBD the green light in 2018 and raised the permissible THC limit by ten times from 15 nanograms to 150 ng per milliliter of urine in the following year, there have been around 60 CBD-related doping violations internationally, most of which were caused by THC . although, according to DopingList.com, many violations do not indicate the specific cannabinoid.

WADA’s increased THC threshold confirmed the potential (non-performance enhancing) presence of the psychoactive cannabinoid in tests of full-spectrum CBD products in trace amounts, as well as vapes and passive marijuana smoke, but the UK-based, internationally-focused business of Informed-Sport Development Manager Terence O’Rorke said the hurdles for CBD certification remain before the “significant interest of CBD brands in the US, Europe, the Pacific, Japan and South Africa” ​​can be addressed.

WADA may have raised the THC limit to counter the increased use of CBD products for recovery, sore muscles, sleep, and more, but that limit still posed a doping risk due to “the potential cumulative effects of taking CBD products to an athlete consumed over a longer period of time “. . “

“The risk is most likely minimal, but until a study conclusively shows it, we’ve decided not to certify CBD products.”

Not to mention the risk posed by the other 100+ banned cannabinoids.

“Even though CBD is allowed and THC levels are within the threshold, there is still a risk from banned cannabinoids,” said O’Rorke. “A collaboration between a laboratory, an academic institution, and a CBD brand could be a great way to set up a feeding study.”

CBD in the sports nutrition market: time to rethink?

Amid this uncertainty, despite a CBD advert on Facebook, Instagram and Google and the hit COVID-19 that has been delivered to the entire CBD category, the CBD sports nutrition market remains relatively buoyant as household straps are tightened and quality items like CBD are squeezed out became a lot of shopping lists.

CBD companies continue to sponsor sports, events, and athletes, despite high-profile doping cases like triathlete Lauren Goss and skier Devin Logan, both of whom received USADA bans after anti-doping tests at competitions found elevated levels of THC that made them CBD – Attributed to creams and drops that they legally used out of competition.

O’Halloran said that such prolonged in vivo THC levels could be due to the fact that “cannabinoids can also be taken up and accumulated in adipose tissue.”

“Some studies have shown that this can be released back into the bloodstream after a long period of exercise.”

Such physiological uncertainty means that many high profile athletes keep their CBD usage to themselves. “We sell to some athletes, but no one will use our product because they fear that specific cannabinoid panel tests will target them when it would be safe to do so,” said O’Halloran.

Jonathan S. Miller, General Counsel of the US Hemp Authority and the US Hemp Roundtable, called for a pragmatic regulatory reassessment of the CBD sports nutrition category and how cannabinoids work in it.

“The fact is, the demand for these products is so great that it is time to reflect on the companies,” said Miller. “I hope groups will recognize that traces of these cannabinoids are not performance-enhancing and should be allowed.”