In order to cure a variety of ailments more and more people are turning to CBD products. Products containing cannabidiol frequently make a variety of health claims, but as these products have no regulatory framework, there is little scientific information available regarding the reasons people use them, their safety, and their effectiveness. The UK government is strict and attempts to regulate the CBD market to the maximum possible. The global CBD oil and CBD consumer health market is anticipated to expand from $39.54 billion in 2022 to $49.72 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.75%. What are the CBD products perceptions in the UK?
Perceptions and CBD usage analysis in UK by HealthUnlocked
Social media offers patients a useful forum for discussing their positive or negative drug experiences and looking for peer support. It is important to talk about using social media for CBD product research. One of the most popular social health platforms in Europe is known as HealthUnlocked. They serve more than 1.5 million people throughout 500 areas and more than 250 medical issues.
Over 250,000 HealthUnlocked posts from the period of March 1, 2020, to September 17, 2021, were extracted and anonymized to examine opinions on CBD products. The research only included comments from people who gave their permission to share their anonymized data with researchers. Then, CBD-specific terms were used to filter relevant posts from the UK and other countries. The analysis focused on the following themes:
- CBD product indications,
- potential benefits and drawbacks, including patient-reported adverse effects linked to CBD,
- simultaneous treatments with CBD products.
The signs of CBD use varied between nations. Fibromyalgia or chronic pain with popularity of 29.1%, restless legs syndrome with 8.5%, and rheumatoid arthritis with 7.5% were the most prevalent uses for CBD products in the UK. Discussions about the ineffectiveness of CBD, drug-drug interactions, and side effects were common.
HealthUnlocked vs. other surveys
Congenial analysis, however, suggests that anxiety, sleeping problems and stress are the main reasons for CBD usage. This analysis was based on an online survey, with people from Great Britain as a majority. We can see that the analysis base and the research group were comparable.
Even though discussed indications may differ at the first glance, we may find many common points. First of all chronic pain, RLS and rheumatoid arthritis from HealthUnlocked posts may cause anxiety, sleeping problems and stress. Thus, we may say that the results are not different, just one of the analyses was more accurate or specific. Moreover, we still should take note that the usage patterns may vary according to demographic characteristics.
Social network for cannabis researchers
We can deduce from the HealthUnlocked study that social media patient experiences may provide novel data about goods like CBD. Such routine analysis can offer chances to develop current, relevant study topics for patients. For the development and regulation of CBD products, social media can offer researchers, physicians, and politicians useful information. Thankfully, more and more research focuses on cannabis, hemp and CBD. This may lead to creating regulated markets and standardized quality.
The CBD market is still growing in the whole of Europe. According to the forecast, Germany will continue to be the largest market in Europe for CBD products. However Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are some additional important European markets. According to the research, these markets should continue to expand in the years to come.