Brands are infusing their workout clothes with CBD, but experts believe this function provides no benefits for users.
There seems to be a new wellness trend every couple of months, but few have been as strong as consumer interest in CBD. The cannabinoid is projected as one of the fastest growing industries, with the capacity to produce millions of dollars within a couple of years. It has been featured in all sorts of beauty and health products. It’s even been woven into athletic wear.
While CBD is an exciting industry filled with tons of promise for mental and physical health, we should be wary of where we invest our money. A quick Google search will show you several reputable CBD brands that make products with actual results, but it will also show that there’s a lot of misinformation going around. Plenty of products take advantage of the current disarray of the marijuana industry and lack of laws, claiming to contain CBD when they don’t and there’s no evidence of positive effects.
One of the most glaring examples of a brand just hopping on a fad is CBD workout clothes. In August, Acabada Active was the first to sell athletic wear infused with CBD, with their prices ranging from $100 to $200 for a sports bra or a jumpsuit. The site claims that each product has up to 25mg of CBD, which is activated when users start to move and sweat while wearing the clothes.
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On paper, this sounds like a great technological development, providing relief for athletes as soon as they start to sweat. In practice, experts believe that there’s no sufficient evidence to provide back up for these claims.
Gizmodo spoke with Ziva Cooper, the research director of the Cannabis Research Initiative at the University of California. She said: “We don’t have good evidence that, from controlled studies with humans, CBD is going to help accelerate the healing process. And if CBD does have an impact on healing or muscle soreness, we are in the dark as of yet with respect to how well it gets absorbed by the body when given topically.”
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Other experts claim that applying CBD while exercising might even be counterproductive to the work out since inflammation helps make our muscles stronger. “If you immediately blunt the inflammation that occurs, you’re not really going to benefit from that workout,” sports medicine physician Michael Fredericson told Allure. He also says that the benefits of CBD lotion occur when the product is applied directly on the affected area instead of the parts that are normally covered by a shirt or some pants.
CBD opens up hundreds of doors for wellness and health, but products need to support their claims with science and trials. At this moment in time, there’s just not enough information out there to ensure that the $100 you spend on a sports bra are going to be a worthy investment.
