Jerusalem, Israel: Administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) lowers
incidence of diabetes in animals and may one day play a role in the prevention of human type 1
diabetes, according to preclinical findings published in the March 2006 issue of the journal
Autoimmunity.

Researchers at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem reported that injections of 5mg per
day of CBD significantly reduced the prevalence of diabetes in mice from an incidence of 86% in
non-treated controls to an incidence of only 30%. In a separate experiment, investigators
reported that control mice all developed diabetes at a median of 17 weeks (range 15-20 weeks)
while a majority (60%) of CBD-treated mice remained diabetes-free at 26 weeks.

Investigators also reported that CBD significantly lowered plasma levels of the pro-inflammatory
cykotines (proteins), INF-gamma and TNF-alpha, and significantly reduced the severity of
insulitis (an infiltration of white blood cells resulting in swelling) compared to non-treated
controls. "Our results indicate that CBD can inhibit and delay destructive insulitis and
inflammatory ... cykotine production in ... mice resulting in decreased incidence of diabetes,"
authors concluded.

Preclinical trial data published earlier this year found that CBD prevents diabetic retinopathy in
animals. The condition, which is characterized by retinal oxygen deprivation, is the leading
cause of blindness in working-age adults. Cannabinoids have also been demonstrated to
alleviate certain types of neuropathic pain associated with diabetes, and to reduce glucose
levels in animal models of the disease.

Full text of the study, "Cannabidiol lowers incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice,"
appears in the March issue of Autoimmunity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16698671&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum