Discussions around gender disparity in healthcare aren’t new. Yet although we know the health gap exists, there is still a huge historical data gap when it comes to female bodies.
This can lead to a variety of challenges, such as women being 10% less likely to have their pain properly assessed than men, less likely to receive pain medication, or even being diagnosed for conditions like cancer at a much later stage.
One reason for this disparity is due to a long-held assumption that male anatomy serves as a template for the whole population. Men outnumber women in clinical trials 3:1, meaning that treatments and care pathways based on the results are likely to have a bias and may not account for differences in the way female bodies react to treatment and present symptoms.
The importance of uncovering these differences has been highlighted by a recent study led by Zentrela, Inc., a Canadian AI neurotechnology company, and Kinloch Wellness Ltd., a pioneer in non-psychoactive, plant-based health and wellness products, that set out to explore the relaxation effects of CBD gummies and found some interesting additional outcomes during the process.
Cannabis has been legal for recreational use in Canada since 2018, yet consumers here are particularly drawn to CBD-based products which are often promoted as a natural cure for ailments like pain, anxiety or insomnia.
The demand is so strong that Canadian retailers have been known to sell out of CBD product lines entirely.
Yet despite many impressive health claims, product information that guides consumer purchase decisions is often based on generic reviews. Kinloch Wellness Ltd and Zentrela hoped to address the current void in CBD product information by introducing standardized efficacy insights for consumers and offering products with exact details on cannabinoid composition.
For the study in question, investigators set out to objectively quantify how effective a CBD-only product formulation truly is at increasing the relaxation state of consumers.
This EEG-based study was the first of its kind to objectively quantify how effective a CBD-only product is at increasing the relaxation state of consumers. Utilizing Zentrela’s innovative brainwave analysis technology, the participant’s responses to Kinloch Serene™ CBD Green Apple Drops and a comparator product containing 50mg of CBD but lacking terpenes was studied.
Dwayne Stewart, CEO of Kinloch Wellness, explained that “Zentrela has allowed us to give data-based insights into the performance of our products for both medical professionals and recreational sellers of our products, enhancing their access to information about how our products may perform for their patients and clients.”
The study set out to objectively quantify the product efficacy of Kinloch’s Serene™ CBD Green Apple Drop using Zentrela’s novel EEG brainwave analysis tool, the Cognalyzer®, to obtain a detailed understanding of the relaxation effects on study participants.
However, the marked difference that the product had between males and females was an unexpected yet important finding from the study. The research team found that 1 gummy was optimal for females but males were likely to require a higher dose to receive a similar level of relaxation.
Without such data to hand, customers will receive inaccurate or generic advice at best, or suffer adverse reactions to wellness products at worst.
Said Israel Gasperin, Engineering Scientist and CEO of Zentrela, “The study with Kinloch has shown how CBD can impact the genders very differently. Having access to detailed data insights like this will help to inform a safer future for CBD users and an industry built on high-quality products.”
As the purpose of the study wasn’t to explore the different effects between the sexes in detail, the reasons for this variance can’t be categorically confirmed.
Although males are more likely to have higher height and weight than females that may contribute to the different limits for CBD dosage, many other physiological processes could be influencing outcomes like these, which the medical community is only just starting to understand in closer detail.
Results from this study demonstrate that two products can contain identical amounts of the same cannabinoids and yet create very different effects (Kinloch Serene™ CBD Green Apple Drop vs. the Comparator).
The relaxation effects created by the Kinloch CBD gummies in this study were close to 3X more effective in females than in males.
The Kinloch Serene™ CBD Green Apple Drop, containing CBD and terpenes, was 3X more effective at relaxing the study group than the comparator CBD-only product. In addition for the female subgroup, the relaxation efficacy of the Kinloch Wellness Ltd. product was even five times greater than the Comparator
Although the health and wellness industry sits adjacent to mainstream healthcare, progressive companies in this space have a strong drive to optimize products, offer tailored solutions for their specific target customer base and provide market education that builds trust.
Findings from studies like this highlight could help to drive progress across the healthcare industry, and more widely could confirm the need to close the gender gap in trials.
Article’s featured photo of Zentrela CEO Israel Gasperin
This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company
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