Scientists in Brazil have identified a THC-free shrub with naturally occurring CBD, raising hopes for a non-cannabis source that could disrupt the booming global CBD market.
Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro have discovered the presence of the highly sought cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) in a shrub that grows along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, according to an Earth.com report. The CBD is particularly measurable in the plant’s fruits and flowers.
The team identified the compound using specialized liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Their next step involves investigating whether the shrub — Trema micrantha, also known as the Jamaican Nettle Tree or Capulin — is a good candidate for commercial-scale CBD extraction. The team is relying on a public grant for 500,000 Brazilian reals (BRL), or about $104,000 in USD.
Dr. Rodrigo Moura Neto, a Brazilian molecular biologist, said in the report it was “wonderful” to find a CBD-rich plant that does not contain the psychoactive ingredient THC — which remains prohibited, or at least highly regulated by the majority of world governments — as “the potential is enormous.”
Pharmacologists will also need to compare the therapeutic potency of CBD from Trema micanthra to that of cannabis- or hemp-derived CBD — after all, it “might not work as well, or at all,” Dr. Moura Neto noted in the report.
Global hemp-derived CBD sales amounted to nearly $5 billion last year and could grow to more than $47 billion by 2028, the report said, and the ability to source commercially viable CBD from a non-regulated source could quickly become a game changer for the industry.