The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced in a press release that it was lowering the recommended daily limit of CBD from 70mg to 10mg, citing risks to the liver and thyroid problems.
10 milligrams of CBD per day is equivalent to four or five drops of 5% CBD oil. Previous advice, from 2020, set a much higher limit of 70 mg per day.
“The more CBD you consume over your lifetime, the more likely you are to develop long-term side effects, such as liver damage or thyroid problems,” said Professor Robin May, chief scientific advisor to the FSA.
Mr May suggested consumers check the labels of the products they use and consider heeding this new advice. “The level of risk is linked to the quantity consumed, as is the case with other potentially harmful products such as alcoholic beverages. »
According to the FSA, this change of gear is based on new data provided by certain industry players as well as on the contributions of its independent scientific committee.
This change is expected to shake up the UK CBD sector, with some products currently on sale containing more than 10mg of CBD per serving. However, the recommendation is only advisory and regulators are not calling for the products to be removed from shelves.
Marika Graham-Woods, executive director of the Cannabis Trades Associationa British association which has 200 members, declared to the Guardian that this decision was unfair and that the new guidance was only advisory.
“All it does is scare consumers and retailers and prevent the industry from moving forward.” I don’t see any benefit to what they did.”
The FSA said consuming more than 10 mg of CBD per day posed “no acute safety risks” based on the data it had assessed. However, beyond this level and over a certain period, “there is evidence of some adverse effects on the liver and thyroid”.
The FSA data is not yet known. Previous studies noted a risk for the liver in the event of massive and repeated absorption of CBD, at doses starting at more than 600 milligrams per kilogram of body, or 42 grams of pure CBD per day for an adult weighing 70 kilograms.
The American company Mile High Labs, whose cannabis extracts are authorized on the British market, requested in a press release “an urgent meeting with the FSA in order to obtain more transparency on the ongoing evaluation of safety data and to understand why precautionary statements were issued without evaluation of all applicable data.”
“It is important to note that toxicological data from Mile High Lab was not included in the FSA’s risk assessment process and subsequent report, as only three applications were considered for the evaluation of the acceptable daily intake (“ADI”). If we take into account Mile High Lab’s proprietary data set and apply the same criteria as the commission’s approach, this will lead to a recommended daily dose significantly higher than the recommended 10 mg per day. »
