What is CBG (Cannabigerol)?
Over the past years, CBG is gaining attention from growers and users alike. Short for cannabigerol, CBG acts as the stem cells for marijuana cannabinoids, including CBD. Based on recent studies, CBG has a great potential to help improve the health of sick people, although there is still a lot of researches that need to be done.
What is CBG (Cannabigerol)?
What is CBG?
CBG refers to a particular cannabinoid we can find in marijuana.
The marijuana plant is composed of numerous cannabinoids that cause the prominent marijuana high on its users. A cannabinoid is a naturally occurring chemical compound present in Cannabis. There are about 100 intrinsic cannabinoids and chemicals such as terpenoids and flavonoids present in Cannabis. This number is similar to other plants that contain numerous plant chemicals, such as green tea.
Here are some of the well-known cannabinoids:
- Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive compound in Cannabis
- Cannabidiol (CBD)
- Cannabinol (CBN)
- Cannabichromene (CBC)
- Cannabigerol (CBG)
That last chemical compound is what we will discover in this article.
What is the difference between CBD and CBG?
Before we reveal the difference between CBD and CBG, let us first discuss the similarities.
Due to the similarities that exist between CBD and CBG, these are constantly compared with each other. One similarity between them is that both CBD and CBG are non-psychoactive. These two cannabinoids will not affect your brain in the same way that THC does. However, CBD and CBG do diminish the head-high effect of THC.
CBD and CBG also affect our endocannabinoid system by binding with the two cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2. CBG and CBD can increase anandamide activity, a neurotransmitter involved in boosting pleasure and motivation, regulating hunger and sleep, and reducing pain by binding to both receptors.
Now, onto the differences between CBD and CBG. Firstly, CBG is considered as the "parent" cannabinoid because marijuana cannabinoids begin as CBG. These eventually become well-known cannabinoids such as THC and CBD.
Secondly, the amount of CBD and CBG present in most cannabis plants is one of the most significant distinctions between the two. The majority of cannabis plants contain only 1% CBG but up to 25% CBD.
How does CBG work?
Akin to other cannabinoids, CBG influences the endocannabinoid system of our bodies. When we say "endocannabinoid system," we refer to the complex collection of receptors (CB1 and CB2), chemicals, and enzymes inside the human body.
Endocannabinoids are natural substances produced by our bodies. These substances assist in regulating many of our physiological functions as well as the maintenance of internal equilibrium. CB1 and CB2 receptors attach to them. The CB1 receptors are specifically located in the nervous system. CB2, on the other hand, can be found elsewhere in our body, primarily within the cells of the immune system.
CBG interacts predominantly with CB2 receptors, according to research. Through other research studies, CBG can prevent other substances from binding to CB1 receptors at significant concentrations.
The ‘entourage effect‘ of CBG refers to the complicated interplay between numerous plant cannabinoids and the body’s endocannabinoid system. Scientists are only now beginning to grasp the full scope of the situation. Some people believe that utilizing these cannabinoids in combination is more effective than using them individually.
What are the benefits of CBG?
Years of study to determine the benefits of CBG are both accessible and available to us today. The results of these studies are suggestive of CBG’s ability to help deal with certain diseases among people. However, predominantly these studies are done with animals as subjects. Human testings are scarce.
- Bladder ailments – According to a 2015 study, CBG can help improve people suffering from bladder ailments. The researchers discovered that CBG helps in lessening the contractions of the human bladder, which provides discomfort for those suffering from any disease of the organ.
- Glaucoma – Individuals suffering from the mentioned eye disease may have CBG as a treatment. A study published in 2008 informs us that CBG lowers intraocular pressure that characterizes glaucoma.
- Bacterial infections – We know from a study from 2008 that CBG can slay bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the bacteria that cause drug-resistant staph infections. Such types of conditions are challenging to treat and can be pretty harmful.
- Lack of appetite – In 2016, research conducted on rats prove that CBG can stimulate appetite. This could mean that HIV and cancer patients may find CBG beneficial. Marijuana has an effect called "munchies," which explains why people feel starving after using it. To learn more about this, I recommend you read this blog.
- Inflammatory bowel disease – IBD is an incurable disease among millions of people living in industrialized parts of the globe. However, this condition may be treated by CBG based on a 2013 study on mice.
What cultivars are rich in CBG?
Type IV cannabis refers to cannabis varieties that are high in CBG. Type I is THC-dominant, Type II is a mixed-ratio of CBD/THC, and Type III is CBD-dominant if you’re not familiar with the other categories.
Today, many large-scale growers have cultivated CBG-riched products. Oregon CBD was the first to produce the very first CBG-rich strain, which they call — Stem Cell. Now, other strains are made available such as White CBG and Sour C CBG.
Likewise, seedsman offers excellent cannabis strains abundant in CBG. Their bestsellers are specifically engineered to produce very high levels of cannabigerol.
How do I extract CBG?
CBG oil is typically extracted using one of two methods: CO2 or ethanol, or both if you want to be sure you have extracted everything out of your CBG-rich biomass. For example, you may extract a full-spectrum, highly valuable CBG oil by pulling the fragile plant terpenes with CO2 and removing everything else with ethanol.
The first step in the CBG extraction procedure is to soak your CBG-rich plants in your preferred solvent (usually CO2 or ethanol) to extract the terpenes and cannabinoids. The produced solution can proceed through one or more post-filtration steps before evaporating with heat and vacuum to eliminate any remaining solvents. As a result, you made a refined CBG crude extract. It would be best to distill the concentrate again to create a refined CBG distillate, followed by affinity chromatography.
Here are some steps in extracting CBG using Cold Temperature Ethanol Extraction process flow:
- Chilling: Have your ethanol pre-chilled using a DC-40 Direct Chiller to a temperature of -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius).
- Extraction: Using CUP Series closed-loop mechanical centrifugation, soak and agitate the biomass in chilled ethanol solvent to extract cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) components.
- Particulate filtration: Remove particulates
- Solvent evaporation: Utilizing a Falling Film Evaporator (FFE), discard ethanol from plant crude oil.
- Decarboxylation: Raw CBGA molecules are heated to liberate the carboxyl molecule group as CO2 and convert to the more bioaccessible CBG.
- As a final step, use a rolled film distillation to obtain CBG molecules.
Flash chromatography is another approach to isolate cannabinoids. Individual cannabinoids, as well as other co-extractants such as pesticides, are separated using flash chromatography. Without highly volatile and toxic chemicals like pentane, extract purification with this approach removes many of the undesirable components while keeping some of the terpenes.