The debate between those who sing the praises of hemp as a miracle product and those who decry it as the moral decay of society is largely settled by this point. At least, it’s settled in the arena of factual evidence, if not in the arena of political discourse. There will always be naysayers who bray to anyone who will listen that anything related to cannabis is an evil unto the world, and that it’s a gateway drug to the depths of degradation of the soul. But while the people who claim that hemp is a miracle substance that can cure all your ails are overselling it a bit, there’s no factual doubt that there are genuine benefits to incorporating them into your lifestyle.
This article will give you a brief overview of what benefits you can expect from the plant. While you can always visit a hemp site for more information than you’ll find in a short article, here you can find a good generalization and starting point to researching what place, if any, it can have in your life. Separating fact from fiction and getting a clear understanding of what exactly the plant is and what it can do is vital to making an informed decision and determining what applications, if any, are right for you. Read on to discover how your life could potentially improve!
What Is It Used For?
Chances are you have some hemp products in your home already, even if you didn’t intend to. Cannabis is a poorly understood plant, as you can easily see from how haphazardly it’s legislated. The kind of cannabis that’s used in the textile industry and health supplements, cannabis sativa, is not the same plant as the kind that induces a high when smoked. In fact, TCH levels – that is, the compound responsible for getting a user high – are extremely low in the sativa plant used in industry and the health market. It must be established right off the bat that the kind of cannabis we’re discussing today is not the same kind that people smoke recreationally. While smoking marijuana is still a controversial subject in the political sphere, even that is beginning to become mainstream among the general public.
The hemp we’re discussing is still regulated by the Drug Enforcement Agency due to its association with marijuana, an unfair association even under the broadest of strokes. Cannabis sativa was a victim of the 1950s moral panic over alternative lifestyles, but it has a proud history of being a staple of the textile market before that. Cannabis sativa, also called industrial hemp, was vital during World War II due to the wide variety of things that could easily be made with it. As noted here, a single acre of the crop can produce up to 1300 pounds of refined fibers. Those fine fibers can be processed and made into just about anything in the textile world.
If you walk into a spiritual shop or a smoke boutique, you’re likely to see classic hoodies and shirts woven from hemp. The look is iconic and instantly recognizable, but there’s a lot more that cannabis can be used to make. You can find it in shirts and jeans, but most people are surprised to find that many dresses use it in their construction. If you have a canvas bag, or anything else that uses canvas, there’s a high chance that it might incorporate cannabis fibers in its weave. It also makes a strong, water-resistant rope that’s ideal for camping or boating. Hemp is less expensive and easier to work with than some of the more ubiquitous alternatives on the market. However, due to needing the blessing of the Drug Enforcement Agency to even work with it, hemp isn’t as powerful a force on the market as it was before the 1950s all but destroyed the now-recovering injury.
Oil and Seeds Have Proven Health Benefits
Fortunately, there is one segment of the market where hemp is thriving: as a health supplement. People have come around to understanding that there are real, genuine benefits to be had from cannabis sativa. The seeds are the key to these benefits, either being sold on their own or being processed into oil. Both of these forms have benefits, some of them overlapping, that can help improve your overall health. That statement isn’t just something that the marketing agents behind the products like to say, either. As you can see at https://www.webmd.com/diet/hemp-health-benefits-nutrition-use, there are some proven benefits. While formal, unbiased research is rare, what findings have been published show some excellent things.
For one thing, both the oil and the seeds are high in several natural vitamins that promote better health. The most obvious of these is vitamin E, which boosts the immune system and acts as an antioxidant that reduces free radicals in the bloodstream. The oil is more robust in vitamin E than the raw seeds, which can be eaten either with their shells or without. Both are equally rich in the famous omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which is good for cholesterol and overall gut health. These acids are commonly sold as supplements on their own at your local pharmacy, and there’s a good chance hemp oil is one of the ingredients on the back of the bottle. Research is still ongoing, but suffice to say that hemp is an excellent addition to a healthy lifestyle.